Uzumaki's Shadow
by Kage no hon'no
Summary: "I never got your name mister.""That's because I never gave it."Naruto huffed in annoyance, "Well, what's your name?"The man put his head back down and smiled under his hood. "You can call me… Kage." R&R Please!
1. Prolouge: The Encounter

**Kage no hon'no: *waves lazily* Yo! Kage no hon'no here with my very first story! Whoo!**

**? : Sheesh, can you keep it down over there? I'm trying to sleep!**

**Kage no hon'no: Sorry, but… it's my first story!**

**? : *waves him off* Yea, yea. Now let me sleep! Since you generously decided to place me with the number one knuckle head, hyperactive ninja when he's SIX, I'm not going to get much sleep from now on.**

**Kage no hon'no: Come on! Stop being so lazy! Besides, you'll get your fun when you torture him?**

**? : Don't you mean train him?**

**Kage no hon'no: *smiling* Nope!**

**? : *shrugs* guess it's not so bad then.**

***Naruto comes in with a scroll in hand ***

**Naruto: Hey uh, is there a Kage no hon'no here?**

**Kage no hon'no: I guess you're here for the mission request?**

**Naruto: *nods* Yep. *looks at scroll* S-ranked mission: Help needed in creation of a 'fan fiction?' Request for Uzumaki Naruto to take mission solo.**

**Kage no hon'no: Yep! Sounds about right! Alright, your first job is to *drum roll* read the disclaimer for today! *does a pose similar to Jiraiya's***

**Naruto: *sighs* Just had to get the mission with the freaky client.**

**Kage no hon'no: *eye twitches* Do the damned disclaimer.**

**Naruto: Alright.**

**Disclaimer: Kage no hon'no does not own anything in the Naruto world. He does own that freaky hooded guy over there.**

**? : *demonic aura appears around him***

**Kage no hon'no: Kill him.**

**Naruto: Eh? No, wait…**

***screams of pain are heard seconds later***

**Word guide**

'Hello' regular talking

'_Hello'_ thinking

'**Hello' **demon talking/summon talking

'_**Hello' **_demon thinking/summon thinking

**The Encounter**

* * *

The night was silent as a dark figure walked down one of the many streets in Konoha. The man was about 6'3 and wore clothing that was completely black. A hood was over his head, hiding most of the details of his face. Two golden orbs shone out from under the hood that spoke of both wisdom and sadness. "It's been several years since I've been here. Hope not much has changed since my… departure." The man suddenly let out a groan of annoyance, "No, I'm not going there! I don't care if it's a good source of information!" He palmed his fame with his hand before letting out a sigh, "Of all the most perverted-" he suddenly jerked his head upright, "I'm not sure," he muttered, "The old monkey probably gave the seat to someone else already. He hated doing paperwork." The man chuckled, "I'll never forget the expression on his face when I refused to-" He stopped and started sniffing the air. "I smell blood, and lots of it." The man quickly turned and ran down the alley to the right. As he ran further down the alley, he could see signs of a struggle as the walls were covered in blood and slash marks. "What on earth happened here?" He whispered as he looked around. He stumbled as he tripped over something causing the figure beneath him to groan. Turning around to look at what he tripped over, his eyes widened in horror. Lying on the ground was a small child about five to six years old. The kid had spiky blonde hair that was matted with blood. His clothing was torn to shreds and he bled from numerous small and several large wounds on his back. The man quickly got on his knees and placed his hands on the kids back where they started glowing green. Several minutes passed as the man healed the wounds on the kid's back and front, which had even worse wounds there as well. Once he finished healing all of the kid's wounds, the kids eyes shot open. He grabbed a short pipe next to him and jammed it into the man's throat. The man let out a gurgle before falling backwards. The kid stared at him in shock.

"_Did… I just do that?_" the kid asked himself. Suddenly, the man lifted his hand and pulled the pipe out of his throat.

"Well that wasn't very nice,' he said, "killing the man who saved you.".

The kid stared at him, dumbfounded, "H-how? I- I killed you."

The man nodded, "That you did, but doesn't matter. I would have done the same in your position." He walked over and picked up the kid and put him on his shoulders.

"Hey!" the kid shouted, "what are you doing?" The man snorted, "What does it look like I'm doing? I'm taking you back to my place. You'll be safe there and I need to see if I completely healed you. So be quiet and enjoy the ride gaki."

The kid folded his arms and pouted, "Don't call me that!"

"Call you what?" the man asked.

"Gaki! I have a name you know!"

The man raised a hidden eyebrow. "_It that the only thing he picked up on out of all that?"_ "So what is your name gaki?" he asked.

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki! Future Hokage of the Hidden Leaf Village!" Naruto answered a goofy grin on his face.

The man scoffed, "Fishcake? You can't be a good Hokage with a name like that."

A tick mark appeared on Naruto's forehead. "It does not mean fishcake! My name means Maelstrom!"

The man rolled his eyes. "Riiiiight."

Naruto just growled and started to pout again. Several minutes passed as they walked in silence. "Hey mister?"

The man leaned his head back to look at Naruto, "Hm?"

"I never got your name mister."

"That's because I never gave it."

Naruto huffed in annoyance, "Well, what's your name?"

The man put his head back down and smiled under his hood. "You can call me… Kage."

* * *

**Kage no hon'no: Whew! That took some time, but I finished the first installment of Uzumaki's Shadow!**

**Kage: *looks at computer* It's a little… short isn't it?**

**Kage no hon'no: *shrugs* Hey, it's a prologue. I don't need it to be that long.**

**Kage: I guess so but-**

***Naruto comes in bruised and battered***

**Naruto: Hey! What the hell was that for?**

**Kage/Kage no hon'no: What was what?**

**Naruto: Well you pummeled me into a pulp, and then *points at computer* I became a six year old that looked like I was put though a meat grinder!**

**Kage: *sighs* Seems like I need to explain all of this for you. Follow me. *Kage and Naruto leave the room.**

**Kage no hon'no: *looks around the room* Well, I guess that leaves just me. Read and Review please! Ja ne!**


	2. Chapter 1: You're going to what?

***Kage walks in the room to see Kage no hon'no putting Naruto in a full nelson and his knee in Naruto's back.***

**Kage no hon'no: So, what have you learned?**

**Naruto: Th-that you're more awesome than me.**

**Kage no hon'no: *digs his knee in* and?**

**Naruto: *yelps in pain* N-never steal your Hot and Spicy Cheez-its.**

**Kage no hon'no: Good. *lets go of Naruto***

**Kage: Well, if you're done playing, want to get the chapter started?**

**Kage no hon'no: Sure. Go ahead and do the disclaimer.**

**Kage: Alright. Disclaimer: Kage no hon'no does not own Naruto or the Naruto world. He does own me though.**

**Word Guide**

"Hello." regular speaking/flashback thinking

"_Hello." thinking/ flashback talking_

"**Hello." demon/summon speaking**

"_**Hello." demon/summon thinking**_

"**Hello." jutsu/moves**

* * *

**You're going to what?**

Kage let out a sigh as he paced back and forth in the kitchen.

"So, you going to tell him?" asked another hooded man that sat at the table. Kage nodded, but didn't say anything. "You okay?" Kage nodded again.

"You're not okay," said another man at the table, "You barely said anything since last night, and what you did say was terrifying."

_Flashback no jutsu!_

_Kage gently placed Naruto on the bed in his bedroom. "Sukiru, Tsuyo. Come on out." Kage's form became distorted as two more figures split apart from him._

"_What is it?" one of the figure whined in a childish voice. "I was having some fun in there before you interrupted me!"_

"_Sukiru, shut up." Said the other figure with little emotion in his voice. _

"_Both of you be quiet. I'm going to look through Naruto's memories, so you need to keep guard."_

"_So this is the kid you picked up?" asked Sukiru in a deeper, more mature voice. "Didn't know you were like that."_

_Kage's eyebrow twitched, "You know why he's here Sukiru. Shut up before I kill you." Sukiru just shrugged and grabbed a chair and turned it around before sitting in it. Kage sighed and placed his hand on Naruto's head and closed his eyes. Several seconds passed before Kage's eyes opened wide in horror and he stumbled backwards, startling the other men._

"_Hey what's wrong?" Sukiru asked. Kage just stood up and stumbled out of the bedroom. Sukiru and Tsuyo cautiously followed behind him. Kage burst into the kitchen and slumped into a chair. _

"_I can't believe it," Kage whispered, "how is he so happy after all that?"_

"_After what?" Sukiru asked, "Come on man, tell us!"_

_Kage just looked and him and said, "One hundred and sixty-six."_

_Sukiru just scoffed, "One hundred and sixty-six? What the hell is that-" His eyes widened in both realization and horror. "You can't possibly mean?" Kage nodded._

"_Are you sure? That kid's life was like one hundred and sixty-six?" Tsuyo asked. Kage nodded again._

"_You're not pulling a prank on us are you?" Sukiru asked nervously. _

"_He's not. We don't ever kid about that." Tsuyo said his voice straining._

"_My god." Sukiru muttered, "How is that boy still sane or even happy?" _

_Tsuyo shrugged, "I don't know."_

_Flashback no jutsu, Kai!_

A small groan emanated from the bedroom that Naruto was in. "Looks like the kid's awake. Better make some breakfast." Sukiru muttered as he stood up.

Naruto groaned at the light from the sun assaulted his eyes. He slowly sat up looked around the room. _Hey, this isn't my apart- oh._ The memories from last night flooded into Naruto's mind. Multiple questions whirled through his mind about what happened. _Why do they hate me? Why did that man help me? Why didn't he die?_ A voice rang out piercing his thoughts.

"Hey kid! Come in here if you want to eat!" Naruto immediately jump out of bed and ran into the kitchen. As he opened the door he stopped to see three hooded men in the kitchen. One was at the stove with an apron on, and the other two were sitting at the table. "W-who are you guys?" Naruto asked. One of the men at the table looked at him.

"We are some of Kage's relatives that live here."

"What's wrong with Kage?"

The man sighed. "He just a little shaken. He'll be fine in a couple minutes. What's your name kid?"

"Naruto Uzumaki."

"My name is Tsuyo and the guy in the apron is Sukiru."

Sukiru turned around and waved at Naruto. "Yo!" The toaster behind Sukiru popped up two pieces of bread with a small _ding_. "Alright, the toast is ready to be made."

"What's toast?" Naruto asked.

Sukiru looked at him in shock for several seconds, and then his eyes gleamed mischievously.

"Oh no." Tsuyo groaned.

Sukiru nodded, "Oh, yes." He grabbed two forks and a toaster with a strap connected around it. He put the strap around his neck and started tapping a rhythm on the toaster with the forks. Before he could start singing, a fist smashed into his face, sending him flying through the wall, leaving a Sukiru shape in the wall.

Tsuyo sighed in relief, "Thank you. It's about time you came to your senses."

"I hate that stupid song." Kage muttered. He handed Naruto a bowl of cereal. "Eat up." Naruto practically snatched the bowl out of Kage's hands before sitting at the table and started shoveling the cereal into his mouth. Sukiru slowly walked back into the kitchen through the hole he had made.

"You never let me sing that anymore." Sukiru whined.

Kage snapped his fingers, as to which the hole repaired itself. "That's because we decided not to tolerate your terrible singing or that thing you call a song." he said.

Sukiru started crying anime style tears, "You're so cruel!" he sobbed.

"I'm not cruel, just realistic." Kage deadpanned, "besides, you brought it upon yourself."

Sukiru sat down at the table, depression hanging over his head. "So, when are you going to tell Naruto?"

Naruto looked up from his finished bowl. "Tell me what?"

Kage sighed, "I'm going to ask the Hokage if I can adopt you."

Naruto gaped at him, "B-but why?"

Kage gave him a sad smile. "I looked through your memories last night-"

"You looked at my memories?" Naruto asked. "Why did you do that?"

"I wanted to see why you had been hurt so badly." Kage answered. He gripped the table slightly. "And from what I saw, that wasn't the first time. I'm not going to let that happen, not while I have the power to do so."

"But you just met me last night," Naruto said, "why would you care so much about in such short a time?"

Kage slowly unbuttoned his shirt and pulled it open, causing Naruto to gasp. Kage's chest was covered in scars; there was a particularly large one that looked like it went from his right shoulder to his left hip. His skin had turned from what used to be a plain white to several different shades to tan. "Let's just say, I've known similar pain to yours." He whispered. Kage buttoned up his shirt again while Naruto looked away.

Naruto's eyes wandered around the kitchen until they focused on a clock on the counter. The clock read 7:25. "Kage?"

Kage looked at Naruto, "What is it?"

"How far away are we from the Ninja Academy?"

"About half an hour's walk. Why?"

A look of panic appeared on Naruto's face. "I'm going to be late on my first day! I still need to change my clothes!"

Kage shook his head, "No need for that, I already changed you into a new pair of clothes that I grabbed from your apartment last night. I'll be getting you some new clothes pretty soon."

Naruto looked at him still panicking, "But even if I run, I'll still be too late!" he shouted.

Kage waved him off, "Don't worry, I'll get you there on time." He smiled at Naruto, "Besides, isn't it customary for a parent to see their child off on their first day of school?" He let out a small grunt as Naruto leapt into his chest, crying "Thank you." While tears streamed down his face. After a couple of minutes, Kage took Naruto off of him, "Alright, that's enough for now. We need to get you to the Academy."

Naruto looked at him, confused, "How are we getting there?"

Kage grabbed Naruto's hand and chuckled, "My way." Before Naruto could ask, the two started melting into the shadow under the table. "Watch the fort guys." Kage called out before they disappeared into the ground.

"Looks like Kage finally gets to be a father." Sukiru said.

Tsuyo nodded, "Can't remember the last time he had a chance to be one."

**Ninja Academy**

"Naruto Uzumaki!" Iruka called out. He looked around the classroom and looked at the roster and frowned. "Naruto Uzumaki!"

"Why bother Iruka?" Mizuki sighed, "It's not like that little de- the kid's going to show up. Just write down that he's not attending." Iruka sighed at the slip that Mizuki made.

"You know the procedure, we call a student's name three times, if they aren't here by that time, _then_ we write them down as not attending the academy." Mizuki just rolled his eyes. "Nar-" Iruka stopped and stared wide eyed as Kage and Naruto slowly came out of the ground in front of the two teachers.

"Um, Naruto not late is he?" Kage asked. Iruka shook his head, still shocked. Naruto's face suddenly turned green and he ran over to a trash can and retched. "Guess he wasn't ready for that." Kage walked over and placed a hand on Naruto's back and it started glowing green. Several seconds later, Naruto straightened and turned to Kage.

"Thanks Kage Tou-san!" he said happily.

Kage's eyebrow twitched before he let out a small chuckle. "I guess you can call me that now can't you? Well, I got to talk to the old man, see you later son." Naruto's grinned, tears in his eyes. Kage stepped back and melted back into the ground.

Iruka continued to stare at the spot where Kage had vanished. "Naruto," he asked slowly, "How is he your father? Aren't you an orphan?"

Naruto shook his head, still smiling, "Not anymore! Kage Tou-san is going to adopt me!"

Iruka sighed, "Alright. Naruto, take your seat so we can start."

**Hokage Tower**

Sarutobi let out an irritated growl, no matter what he did, the paper work never stopped! He snatched another piece of paper and started reading. He froze when a voice he hadn't hear in years sounded out behind him.

"Evening Sarutobi, seems that paperwork is still winning huh?"

The Third Hokage felt a thing he hadn't felt in years. Pure and utter terror.

Kage smiled at the Hokage, "No need to be frightened Sarutobi." He said sweetly, his voice layered with killer intent, "I just want to talk."

"Talk about what?" Sarutobi asked, trying to keep his voice level. A blade impaled the paper in the Hokage's hands as Kage appeared in front of the desk, causing Sarutobi to jump slightly.

"I want to talk about Naruto Uzumaki." Kage said, still smiling. "I've seen his memories and want to know why he has been treated so badly."

Sarutobi started to break out in a cold sweat. "If you would sit down Kage, I will answer all of you questions."

Kage nodded, "Good, because I have a lot of questions. Be ready Sarutobi, we're going to be here for a while."

**Secret Author Style: Cliffhanger no Jutsu!**

* * *

**Kage no hon'no: Ha Ha! My very first Author Jutsu!**

**Naruto: I feel sorry for Jiji. He's going to be dealing with a very pissed Kage.**

**Kage: Don't worry I won't hurt him… much.**

**Kage no hon'no: …**

**Naruto: …**

**Kage non hon'no: Yeah, the Third's screwed. How about you take us out Naruto?**

**Naruto: Sure thing! You know the drill people, Read and Review please! Ja ne!**


	3. Chapter 2: Confrontations

**Kage no hon'no: Well, I'm back! Sorry if I seem a little slow on the updates. I like to write out the chapter before writing out, helps with editing stuff that I don't think needs to be put in. Plus, I'm a little lazy at times.**

**Kage: That's an understatement.**

**Kage no hon'no: Quiet you. Now I have been looking at reviews that my story has received so far and I think it's safe to say I'm a little …disappointed on some of the reviews. While there have been some good reviews on my story (uzumakey: thanks for pointing out that mistake, duhorcommonsense: thank you for reviewing!) most of them have been complaining about the author notes I put up before I start the story. It sorrows me greatly that some people cannot look past things like this and just read the story. But enough of that, Kage do the disclaimer.**

**Kage: Alright, Disclaimer: Kage no hon'no does not own Naruto. He does own me.**

**Word guide**

"Hello" talking

"_Hello" thinking_

"**Hello" demon/summon talking**

"_**Hello" demon/summon thinking**_

"**Hello" Jutsu/moves**

* * *

**Confrontations**

Kage let out a sigh as he leaned backwards in his chair. "So you're telling me that right after my disappearance after the Third Shinobi War ended, Minato was made the next Hokage, and two years after that, the Kyuubi just randomly attacked the village, forcing Minato to seal the Kyuubi into Naruto who just _happened_ to be _the_ _only_ newborn child at the time, and shortly before dieing because of the seal he used, he wanted Naruto to be seen as a hero, and since then you've made a law preventing people telling Naruto what he holds on pain of death _and_ the civilian council , who shouldn't have any power whatsoever, managed to get enough power on both the adoption community and the economy in the village."

"I understand if you're angry Kage but-"

"Your damn right I'm angry!" Kage shouted, flinging a table that appeared out of nowhere. "You've become senile in your old age Sarutobi! You've let your power slowly slip through your fingers! The only reason you aren't dead is because you've been my friend for many years and that you were somewhat there for Naruto! You've become a coward Sarutobi! You're hiding the truth of Naruto's heritage and circumstances of his birth because you're scared of how he will react!"

Sarutobi's eyes grew cold. "That's not why I haven't told him."

"Oh? Then what is it? Because everything else that I can think of seems a little far fetched for me! Tell me why Sarutobi!"

Sarutobi stood up, slamming his hands on the desk, "Because I wanted Naruto to have a normal life without the memories of the past deciding his actions!"

"Really?" Kage asked, his voice dripping with sarcasm and contempt, "Because you've done such an amazing job of it! Letting Naruto be beat on his birthday and almost every week, he can't buy anything without it being extremely overpriced, he starves most of the time, and cries himself to sleep every night! The boy calls you his grandfather, but I have yet to see you do anything even close to what a grandfather does! Just admit it! You hate the boy as well for what the Kyuubi did!"

"So what if I do?" Sarutobi shouted. His eyes widened in horror at the realization of what he just said.

"And the truth comes out." Kage said.

"I-I didn't mean it like-"

"You do." Kage said softly, "There is a part of you that despises Naruto because he reminds you of what you lost during the attack, your wife, your friends, Minato, people of the village." Sarutobi slowly sat down into his chair. "You're conflicted, Sarutobi, you want to take care of him, yet you want to see him gone, because part of you just can't handle remembering. You may not realize it yourself, but I can see it. If you really want to help Naruto, let go of the past, before it becomes too late."

Sarutobi's eyes glimmered with tears as he saw the faces of his friends, friends that he would never see or laugh with again. He saw his beloved wife; he would never hear again her beautiful laugh, never again feel her warm embrace when he went to sleep at night. He saw Minato, a man who truly and completely embodied the Will of Fire. "But I can't just forget them." he whispered.

"You don't have to," Kage said, his voice cracking with emotion, "they are still with you, even though you can't see them." tears of his own appeared at his eyes, "At least you will be able to see them again. I'm doomed to live forever, any friends that I make, any people that I love; they will all pass away with age or other circumstances. No matter what I do, no matter how many times I die, I will never see them again after they die. The cruelest part? Every now and then when I die, I can see glimpses of them, one time I was so close to touching them, so close to hear them once again, and then they vanished. You have any idea how that feels like? To be that close, only to have it ripped out of your hands? That's the reason why I'm the way I am. That's why I want to help Naruto. I can't bear to see someone live a life like I do. So just forget the past and look to the future, and try to make the people precious to you as happy as possible, so you can die happy as well."

Sarutobi looked at him, stunned. "I'm sorry, I didn't-"

"It's not your fault Sarutobi. I've been betrayed so many times that I'm scared to open up to people and tell them about myself." Kage let out a bitter chuckle, "Imagine that, me, one of the most fearless people ever, scared of such a simple thing."

"It just means that part of you is still human, however small it is."

Kage let out a sigh, "I guess so, and it makes me happy that I've managed to retain that small part throughout the life I've lived." Silence passed between them for several minutes. "So," Sarutobi jumped, startled, "how are we going to trick that thrice damned council into letting me adopt Naruto?"

Sarutobi sighed, "I don't know, the problem is with the civilian side, the shinobi council has actually been trying to help Naruto. Several of the clan heads send requests to adopt him a couple times a week, but since the civilian council now control the adoption community…"

"They deny any request as to prevent any chance of Naruto gaining power." Kage finished.

Sarutobi nodded, "And to make it worse, Danzo is on the civilian side as well. He has been trying to get Naruto under his training, but I have been stopping him for now."

"So that war hawk is causing trouble as well?" Kage muttered. He stood up and paced back and forth, muttering to himself. Sarutobi decided to take out his Icha Icha book and read it, giggling perversely every now and then. "Got it!"

Sarutobi quickly hid the book in one of his sleeves. "What have you decided?"

"The council is still crazy about bloodlines and getting more power to the village right?"

Sarutobi nodded, "Yes they have always had a weak spot for that."

Kage smiled, "Then its simple, I will offer to join the village if I am allowed to adopt Naruto."

Sarutobi's jaw dropped, "You would do that? But you hated being tied down! And you don't have a bloodline!"

Kage snorted, "Your talking to a man that can read DNA like a book and manipulate it like clay. I can easily make a bloodline for myself. As for the tied down problem, I would be a ninja thus only you can command me what to do. That stupid council can't tell me to do anything."

Sarutobi sighed, "But what are you going to say?"

Kage shrugged, "You know how I do things, I'll just wing it."

Sarutobi groaned, "People die when you do things like that."

Kage grinned, "Guess people will have to be careful then. Have a meeting ready in a couple hours, I need time to think and alter my DNA so I can make a bloodline."

Sarutobi nodded, and then unsealed the room as to which several ANBU appeared inside.

"Hokage-sama! Are you alright?"

Sarutobi nodded, "I'm fine, contact the council. They need to be at the council room in three hours."

The ANBU nodded, "Hai, Hokage-sama!" they vanished from the room."

"Three hours?" Kage asked, "You think too little of me. I'll be done in two."

**Three hours later…**

"Sarutobi," Danzo said, "care to explain why you called this meeting?"

Sarutobi shook his head, "We are still waiting on one more people, and that's _Hokage-sama_ to you Danzo."

Danzo grimaced at KI that Sarutobi released, "But everyone is here, who are we waiting on?"

"A very powerful person, he said he was going to be here earlier, I wonder what-" Sarutobi was interrupted as a dark figure smashed through one of the windows and landed next to him.

"Sorry I'm late," Kage said, "It took me longer to finish and then I almost got run over by a stampede of fan girls chasing a boy that had a duck's butt for hair." Kage shivered. "Fan girls." Sarutobi placed a hand on his shoulder to comfort him.

"Since our last member for this meeting has arrived, let us begin." He looked at Kage, "I you would?"

Kage gave a slight nod and took a breath. "I would like to formally request permission to adopt Naruto Uzumaki." The civilian council instantly burst into exclamations of surprise and anger, while the shinobi council just looked surprised.

"Why would you want to adopt the Kyuubi-" the man let out a gurgle as a dark object speared him in the chest.

"I am well aware of Naruto's Jinchuuriki status and the law that the Sarutobi has placed concerning that status. I will not be as lenient like Sarutobi has been concerning the punishment for breaking it." Everybody in the room started sweating as Kage let some KI leak out.

"Would you mind telling us who you are exactly?" Danzo asked.

Kage let out an exasperated sigh, "You go missing for eight years and everybody forgets you." He took out a book from his cloak and opened it to a page. "Here," he said, slamming the book on the middle of the table. Everybody paled slightly as they started reading the information on the page. It was a bingo book entry.

_Name: Kage_

_Threat Level: SSS-ranked_

_Advice: DO NOT ENGAGE IN BATTLE. Beg for mercy on sight._

_Age: Unknown_

_Sex: Male_

_Affiliation: None_

_Occupation: Innkeeper until disappearance _

_Abilities: Only known ability as of right now is manipulation of shadows to extent that exceeds that of the Nara clan. Can form solid objects with shadows and use at will._

_Achievements: Defeated entire regiment of Iwa Jounin without taking any damage._

_Defeated Third Hokage Sarutobi Hiruzen without taking any damage._

_Other Information: Kage was greatly known for his hospitality during the Third Shinobi World War. He would let injured patrols of shinobi rest at his inn for free until they were well. When fighting occurred, he would instantly disable the offenders and take them to their rooms to rest. Is known to be a very eccentric man._

Kage smiled at their reactions, _"I love it when they do that."_

"So Kage," Danzo said, who was sweating slightly, "Give us your reason why we should let you adopt Naruto Uzumaki."

"You have no choice?" Kage asked. He laughed when he saw shock and fear appear on everybody on the room, "I kid, I kid. Anyway, my reasons are more of a personal nature, so I can't tell you. You should understand that Danzo, more than anyone."

Danzo let out a small gulp, "Forgive me Kage-sama, I only meant to know why. You have no known loyalty to Konoha except that you and Hokage-sama are old friends."

Kage chuckled, "Think nothing of it, and don't call me sama, it makes me feel old. To answer your question about my loyalty to Konoha, if I adopt Naruto, I will become a shinobi of Konoha. So not only would you get one of the most powerful people, but you would get a bloodline." _"Got them!"_ Kage thought as he saw the civilians' eyes glaze over at the word 'bloodline'.

"You have a bloodline?" one of the civilians asked. Kage nodded. "Why was it not heard of during the war?"

"I had my reasons," Kage said, "I like to keep my abilities hidden, and the fact that Kumo would constantly be after me for it." Several people in the room shivered as they remembered Kumo's desire for bloodlines that bordered on the insanity, the Byakugan being one of said desired bloodlines.

"Seeing as this is a civilian matter," Danzo said, "Let us put it to a vote. All in favor of letting Kage adopt Naruto Uzumaki?" All of the civilians' hands shot up instantly, causing Kage to raise an eyebrow in surprise.

"_That was quick." _He thought. _I thought it would take more to convince them._

"The vote is unanimous," Danzo sighed, "Kage is now the official guardian of Naruto Uzumaki. The proper papers will be sent to you later."

"They better be," Kage growled, "or I'll be gone faster then Minato's Hiraishin. Now, if you'll excuse me."

"We aren't finished yet Kage." Danzo said.

Kage let out a small growl, "What else is there?"

"Since you are the only one to hold your bloodline, you are required to undertake the CRA."

Kage waved him off, "I do it, now I must be-"

"Kage, do you know what the CRA stands for, or even entails?" Sarutobi asked.

Kage shrugged, "Not really, should I care?"

Sarutobi sighed, "You should. Undertaking the CRA, or Clan Restoration Act, means that you need to take multiple spouses."

Kage looked at him, confused, "Spouses?"

Sarutobi sighed again, "I forgot about that little quirk, you need to take multiple mates."

Kage stared at him for a second, and then shouted, "NOOOOOO!"

**Kage's House**

Sukiru suddenly stiffened and look around.

"What is it?" Tsuyo asked.

Sukiru shrugged, "Don't know. I just feel like that I should be extremely proud of Kage for some reason. Maybe the guy finally got laid." Sukiru giggled perversely, causing Tsuyo to roll his eyes.

**Council Room**

Kage was sitting on the ground, depression hanging over his head.

"You okay Kage?" Sarutobi asked.

Kage shook his head and muttered, "Sukiru."

Sarutobi's eyes widened at the name and placed a hand on Kage's shoulder. "Your sacrifice will always be remembered Kage." He said reverently. Everybody in the room sweat dropped.

"Who is Sukiru?" Danzo asked.

"No one you need to know of Danzo." Sarutobi said. "Meeting is dismissed."

* * *

**Kage no hon'no: Man! This one took longer than I thought! I had to revise several things in this chapter. And if you didn't get it from the ending, yes, this will be a harem fic. I was planning on a single person for Kage and Naruto, but I just couldn't decide and none of the other males in Naruto seemed right for any of them. Anyway, just send in your reviews on who do you think should which person get who.**

**Kage: What are you going to do about Naruto?**

**Kage no hon'no: Oh, I'll think of something. Speaking of Naruto, How about you take us out Naruto?**

**Naruto: Sure thing! Read and Review people. Ja ne!**


	4. Chapter 3:Accessing One's Chakra

**Kage no hon'no: Well, I managed to get another chapter up. I would have put another chapter up earlier, but my family went on vacation and I find it hard to write in a moving van. It doesn't help that I get my own version of writers block. I know exactly what I want to write, but I have no idea how to put it down on paper or computer. On another note, I've been looking at my stories stats. Over two thousand hits within two months! But…**

**Kage: But what?**

**Kage no hon'no: *anime tears running down face* Only six people have reviewed it! Most of them weren't even about my story! Please review my story! I want to know what you think of it! Kage? Do the disclaimer before I get more depressed.  
**

**Kage: Sure thing! Disclaimer: Kage no hon'no does not own the Naruto universe. He does own Kage, Sukiru, and Tsuyo.**

**Word Guide  
**

"Hello" regular talking

_"Hello" regular thinking_

**"Hello" Demon/Summon talking**

**_"Hello" Demon/Summon talking_  
**

**"Hello" Jutsu/Moves**

* * *

**Accessing One's Chakra**

**Ninja Academy after Kage left to see the Hokage…**

Iruka let out a small sigh, "Welcome to the Academy. For the next six years, you will be taught how to harness your chakra, the basics of taijutsu, ninjutsu and genjutsu. We will also be going over the history of Konoha. At the end of each year you will be taking a test over these subjects." A student raised his hand. "Yes?"

"What are we doing today Iruka-sensei?"

"We are going to focus on teaching you how to access your chakra for this entire week. It is important that you are taught how to do this as soon as possible."

"Iruka-sensei," another student asked, "What's chakra? Why is it so important?"

Iruka cleared his throat, "Chakra is created through the moulding of the physical and spiritual energies within the body. Once it is moulded, it can be sent though the chakra circulatory system to any of the 361 tenketsu within the body. Then through the use of hand seals, chakra can be manipulated to create a jutsu. Without chakra, the use of jutsu would be impossible to do. "

"Why do we need to do this now though? Can't we learn how to harness our chakra later?"

Iruka shook his head, "No. The age you are at right now is the best time to learn how to harness your chakra. You chakra coils are just starting to open right now and if we wait any longer, your chakra coils will start to degrade, and that can cause complications later in life if you attempt to use chakra."

Naruto leapt out of his seat, "Then what are we waiting for?"

"Because I haven't told you how you are going to access your chakra yet." Iruka said. "Please sit down Naruto."

Naruto quickly sat down, embarrassed.

"Now, we will be going outside to the training ground outside the Academy. Once we are out there, you will be told what to do."

**Academy Training Ground 15 minutes later...**

"Alright!" Iruka shouted, getting the attention of the students, "each of you choose a place to sit down. Meanwhile, Mizuki and i will be going around and sending some our chakra into you. This will help your recognize what chakra feels like and make it easier to access it. Don't be surprised if it takes some time to access it, it can take a week or so before you can properly access your chakra." Naruto quickly found a place to sit down and waited. Several minutes later, Iruka walked over to Naruto and placed his hand on Naruto's forehead. Naruto shifted slightly as he felt a foreign warmth enter his body. as the warmth reached his stomach, a searing pain shot through his head and his vision darkened. He heard Iruka calling his name before he blacked out.

_Drip..._

_Drip...  
_

_Drip...  
_

Naruto opened his eyes and slowly sat up "Owww," he groaned, "What hit me?" he looked around. He was in a dimly lit hallway that never seemed to end "What is this place?" he asked.

"Well," Naruto jumped slightly at the sound of a new voice, "I would guess that this is our mindscape. This place represents the state of our mind. Depressing really, for us to have such a dreary mindscape like this. Oh well, could be worse I suppose."

"W-who are you?" Naruto asked, "Why do you sound like me?"

"Oh yes, the joy of introductions," the voice said in a somewhat bored tone, " I guess we should start with that, but there is no point to it."

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked, confused.

"I am not really real. I am just a part of you. An independent part, but a part nonetheless. You see, when Tou-san had so abruptly left our mind after seeing our memories, he accidentally left a small part of himself within us. When that happened, something interesting happened."

"What happened?"

"That small part by pure chance happened to find something within our mind and... bonded with what he discovered. The bonding that occurred created me."

"What did he find?"

"I... don't remember. It might have been some kind of guardian for our mental defenses which are extremely impressive I might add."

"So how did I get here?" Naruto asked.

"That would be my fault, somewhat. After I was created, I had attempted to contact you to inform you of what had transpired. For some reason, I could not. But when Iruka-sensei had sent his chakra into you, it came into contact with something on your stomach, which acted as some sort of medium to allow me to contact you. Unfortunately, because I used someone else's chakra, it caused a backlash that caused you to fall unconscious. But because you are unconscious, I was able to bring you to your mindscape."

"Oh. Okay" Silence passed for a couple minutes. "Um," Naruto started, "can I ask you a question?"

"Go ahead." the voice said, "We have plenty of time."

"Can I see what you look like? I feel kind of weird talking to the air."

The voice sighed, "Very well, if you so desire to see my form, I shall oblige." A light appeared above Naruto, temporary blinding him. As his vision cleared, he saw a black hooded figure sitting across from him.

"Why do you look like Tou-san?" Naruto asked.

The figure shrugged, "Why not? I was originally a part of him and I like this style of clothing. Make one feels all mysterious like." the figure stood up "Now, if your done asking questions let us attempt to access your chakra."

"How are we going to do that?"

"Look up." Naruto did and saw two large pipes on the ceiling. "One of those pipes represents your chakra, now if I am guessing correctly, if we follow that pipe, we can find where that pipe begins and thus access your chakra."

"What's the other pipe for?"

"I don't know, we can find out later." The figure started walking away.

"Wait!" Naruto shouted.

The figure stopped, "What now?" it demanded.

"I still don't know your name."

The figure sighed, "I really don't have one, but if you must call me me a name, then call me Ikuto. It is a very simple name for you to remember." Ikuto walked over to Naruto and grabbed him by the arm, "Now let us go!" He started walking away dragging Naruto behind him.

**Several hours later...**

"WHERE IS IT?" Ikuto shouted, his voice echoing in the hallway. He let go of Naruto and sat down. "I don't understand!" he muttered, "We should have found it by now. Maybe I'm missing something?"

"Um Ikuto?" Naruto said

"Silence!" Ikuto hissed, "I'm trying to think! There should be some kind of entrance to the center of the chakra network."

"Ikuto?" Naruto said.

"What?" Ikuto snapped.

"Would that be the entrance?" Naruto asked, pointing at a massive door that had large letters that said 'Entrance to Center of Chakra Network'

Ikuto stared at the door. _"How on earth did I miss_ that?" He asked himself. Ikuto cleared his throat, "Well, lets go in." The two walked to the door and pulled on on of the handles. The door easily swung open. Inside the was two large tanks on opposite side of the room. The tank on the right had a large Kanji for 'Physical' on it and a dark blue substance swirling within it. The tank on the left was slightly larger than the tank on the right and had a large Kanji for 'Spiritual' on it and a light blue substance in it. A pipe at the bottom of each tank met together in the middle of the room which connected to one single pipe that went straight up to the ceiling and went through the top of the door. "Well, we found the center." Ikuto said, "You just need access it."_  
_

"Why me?" Naruto asked, "Can't you help me?"

Ikuto shook his head, "I cannot use chakra until you access it. Besides, I would have already accessed our chakra if I could."

"Well how am I supposed to access my chakra?"

"Well," Ikuto said, pointing to where the two pipes met. "I would guess that turning that wheel over there would help." On the center of the pipe was a red wheel with two bars going through it in a 'X' position. Above the wheel were the words 'Turn right to access chakra'. "Now I would advise turning it slowly, if you open it too quickly the rush-" Ikuto stopped as he noticed Naruto was no longer next to him. He looked around and saw Naruto over by the pipe about to turn the wheel, "Wait!" Ikuto shouted, "You-" his words were cut off as Naruto turned the wheel and a flash of blue light followed by a explosion that knocked Ikuto into the wall outside the room. About a minute passed before the light dimmed. The room was the same as before, but the substances from the tanks now flowed into the main pipe, twisting and coiling around each other. Footsteps echoed in the room as Ikuto slowly walked back in. The explosion had removed his hood, revealing spiky blonde hair streaked with black. Three whisker marks were on each cheek and his eyes were two different colors, one gold and one blood red. The expression on his face was one of annoyance. Naruto was nowhere to be seen. "-Baka." Ikuto finished. He let out a long sigh, "What am I supposed to do now?"

**Outside the mindscape...**

Naruto let out a small groan and opened his eyes and saw white. _"Am I dead?"_ he asked himself. He looked down and saw white sheets covering him. _"No, it's worse. I'm in the hospital again."_

"About time you woke up."

Naruto looked to his left and saw Kage sitting next to him. "Tou-san!" he exclaimed.

Kage let out a chuckle, "You cause quite some trouble, little one. After you passed out, you were taken to the hospital immediately by Iruka. About ten minutes ago, you let out a massive wave of chakra causing some damage to your room." He gestured around him showing that the room had several cracks in the walls and ceiling.

"How long was I out?" Naruto asked.

"About three hours." Kage said. "After my meeting with the council ended, we felt the pulse of chakra you gave off. After I rushed over here to see what happened, after I was told that Iruka-san had touched you and you passed out I became rather... aggravated."

"Where's Iruka-sensei Tou-san?"

Kage rubbed the back of his head, feeling rather sheepish, "I may have... accidentally caused some... severe damage to Iruka-san. He's currently in the Emergency Room recovering from my... aggravation."

Naruto stared at Kage, "Is Iruka-sensei going to be okay?"

Kage nodded, "Yeah, he should be out in a couple months, followed by six months of physical and physiological therapy. But right now, you need to rest." Naruto opened his mouth in protest, but Kage glared at him, **"Sleep." **Naruto tried to protest again, but his eyelids soon grew heavy and he fell asleep. "You can come out now, Sukiru, Tsuyo." Two other figures appeared next to Kage.

"So, how was your visit to the Hokage?" Sukiru asked.

"It went well," Kage said, "I managed to get some information as to why Naruto is treated so badly. Apparently Kyuubi attacked the village six years ago and _**Minato**_," his voice dripping with venom at the name, "sealed Kyuubi into Naruto."

"I don't like this," Tsuyo muttered, "Kyuubi doesn't attack such a heavily populated place for no reason."

Kage nodded, "I thought so too, so I went with the sob story tactic in order to skim through Sarutobi's memories. I found out some interesting things such as who caused the attack and who ordered the circumstance leading to our... departure."

"Let me guess," Sukiru said, "Another plan to use us like a attack dog?"

Kage nodded again, "Yep, apparently Naruto was part of that."

"So what do we do now?" Tsuyo asked.

"Nothing." Kage said. "We're not going to do anything. They already managed to get a hold of us, so what's the point?"

"So you expect us to follow orders like a loyal dog?" Tsuyo demanded, "I won-"

"I said that we won't do anything." Kage interrupted, "I never said anything about Naruto doing something."

Sukiru and Tsuyo stared at Kage, "You sly, evil, cruel, bastard." Sukiru said.

"So how are we going to do this?" Tsuyo asked.

"We'll tell Naruto about Kyuubi tomorrow," Kage said, "After that, help him get stronger and give him the attention and love that he truly deserves. Once I think he's ready for it, I'll tell him about the plans that Konoha had for him and us. If we play our cards right, he'll hate them for it and root out the corruption in the place."

"And if we don't?"

Kage laughed, "There is a small chance of that, Naruto's still a kid and easily impressionable. I'm pretty sure he'll be mad when he finds out that he was used just to get his Tou-san into Konoha's clutches. And when that happens," A cruel smirk appeared on Kage's lips, "I'll almost feel sorry for Konoha when that day comes."

* * *

**Kage no hon'no: Man! That chapter took some time to write up! Curse you writer's block!**

**Kage: I seemed rather... evil and manipulative in that last part. Care to explain?  
**

**Kage no hon'no: It will be explained in later chapters, rest assured, you will not be manipulating Naruto. He's still a kid and will eventually take on your views of the world.  
**

**Kage: Oh, Okay.  
**

**Kage no hon'no: Before I forget, I have put up a poll for pairings for Kage, it will be up for some time, once Kage's poll is done, I will do Naruto's. One more thing, I have realized that some things are not clear on Kage, so I will be placing some information below on Kage. I will do other characters in other chapters.  
**

**Name: Kage  
**

**Age: ?  
**

**Sex: Male  
**

**Appearance: Is 6'3", seemingly lean, and wears a hooded cloak that hides any other features besides his eyes, which are a bright gold.  
**

**Abilities: Is able to manipulate shadows (seemingly with no seals, but you really think he isn't that fast with them?) , extremely high-speed regeneration, is capable going through one's memories by touching them or from a distance of 2 meters, uses shadows to travel to different places, can perform Medical Ninjutsu, can create a clone that splits apart from him, clones seem to have similar personalities to Kage, but are somewhat different, other abilities unknown at this time.  
**

**Personality: Most of the time, Kage is calm and collected, but is subject to mood swings at times, may seem cruel and manipulative at times, but is only this way to people he hates or his enemies.**

**Other info: From his actions and words, it is assumed that Kage had lived for a long time. Seems to care deeply for Naruto as Naruto's life is similar to an event from Kage's past know only as '166' suggesting that something tragic happened at that time Kage's life.  
**

**Kage no hon'no: Well, I hope that clears some things up! Please Read and Review! Ja ne!  
**


	5. Chapter 4: Meeting with a fox

**Kage no hon'no: I'm back! Sorry for the wait, I just… got lost on the road of life? *dodges rotten fruit* Anyway, I added some things on Kage's profile that I forgot to put on, so be sure to look for that. Now, I'm not really complaining here, but not that many people reviewed my last chapter. I am extremely glad that people did and I thank them, but can you please review? It just assures me that people actually care about what I'm writing about. It's a little depressing that so few people review my story. Please review.**

***Kage runs in.***

**Kage: We've got a problem!**

**Kage no hon'no: What is it?**

**Kage: Uh… you know that one book that can summon the undead?**

**Kage no hon'no: Yeah, what about it?**

**Kage: Naruto found it and accidentally summoned a massive group of undead lawyers and they're headed this way, fast.**

**Kage no hon'no: *face palms* I'm too young for this. Kage do the disclaimer before they get here.**

**Kage: Disclaimer: Kage no hon'no does not own Naruto. He does own Kage, Sukiru, and Tsuyo. Here they come!**

**Kage no hon'no: *cracks knuckles* If they think a couple of undead lawyers can get me, they got another thing coming! *Undead lawyers surge into the room* Bring it! *Sound of an epic battle fades into the background.***

**Word guide**

"Hello" regular talking

"_Hello" regular thinking_

"**Hello" Demon/summon speaking**

"_**Hello" Demon/summon thinking**_

"**Hello" Jutsu/move use**

"**(Hello)" (Author notes or speaking)**

* * *

**Chapter 4: Meeting with a fox**

**Konoha Marketplace**

The day seemed rather peaceful today in Konoha. Birds were singing, bees were buzzing, Kage was running for his life from a dust cloud, carrying a bag of groceries (Cue record scratch)…wait what? True enough, Kage was running like a madman from a dust cloud several meters behind him. What on earth was in there- "Kage-kun!" Oh… fan girls. Within the dust cloud was a horde of rabid fan girls with hearts in their eyes and screaming exclamations of adoration for Kage. "Oi!" Kage shouted, "Stop describing the bloody fan girls and get me out of this mess you blasted author!" **(Well you just shattered the wall.)** "Screw the wall! I need help!" **(Screw the wall? Wouldn't that be rather… painful?)** "You know what I mean! Now help me!" **(Only if you beg and call me 'Author-sama')** "Are you crazy? You're going to manipulate me like this?" Suddenly, the group of fan girls got a couple meters closer to Kage. "ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT! Please save me from these fan girls Author-sama!" **(Alright, since you asked so nicely. Author Style: Anti Fan Girls Barrier Jutsu!)** A blue barrier popped up between Kage and the fan girls. There was a loud 'THUD' as the fan girls slammed into the barrier. Taking the chance, Kage quickly melded with the shadows and disappeared, but not before muttering, "Damned author." **(Cue evil laugh from author.)**

**Kage's house - Kitchen**

"Hey Sukiru-nii-san?" Naruto asked, "Where's Tou-san?"

Sukiru shrugged, "I'm not sure, he went out to get some food, but he should be-"Kage walked into the kitchen and place the bag he was carrying on the table.

"I hate fan girls!" he growled, "If I ever find the person who though of the idea of fan girls, I'll destroy him!" somewhere in Hell, a man sneezed.

"Maa, maa," Sukiru said, "It couldn't have been that bad."

"It was," Kage muttered, "Half of them were kunoichi and I swore I heard some fan boys as well." the two men inwardly shivered.

"Uhh, Tou-san?" Naruto asked, "Am I going to the academy today?" Sukiru suddenly burst into laughter.

Kage glared at him, and then shook his head, "No, there was some damage to the academy yesterday and they need to repair it before you can go back."

"What happened to the academy?" Sukiru's laughter increased in volume and he soon ended up on the floor, holding his sides.

"You- you don't need to know." Kage said, sounding embarrassed. "But, this works for me because I need to tell you something."

"What is it?"

"Just a second." Kage walked over and kicked Sukiru in the side, hard. Then he went through several hand signs and muttered, **"Sealing Art: Sealed Room Jutsu"** the room glow a faint blue before the glow faded. "Now, where do I start?"

"Well," Sukiru said, having recovered from Kage's kick and his laughing fit, "When a man and a woman really love each other-"

"Not that far back," Kage said, kicking Sukiru once again. He let out a sigh, "Six years ago on October tenth, the Kyuubi no Kitsune attacked Konoha. It left a mass of destruction in its wake, killing ninja and civilian alike. The Kyuubi's power was unmatched, not even the Fourth Hokage, who was considered the greatest ninja of his time, could hope to defeat it. So the Fourth decided to seal it within a newborn child, trapping the Kyuubi and saving the village. Unfortunately, the wounds that the Fourth received from the Kyuubi were too great for him to bear, and he died soon after sealing it."

"Tou-san," Naruto asked, "why are you telling me this? What does this have to do with me?"

"Naruto," Kage said softly, "You were that child that the Fourth sealed the Kyuubi into." It took several seconds for Naruto to realize what Kage had said. He hung his head, tears forming in his eyes.

"So I am really a demon." He murmured, "The villagers are right." Kage scowled and flicked Naruto's head. "Itai!"

"Don't you ever think that again!" Kage growled, "Are you a sixty-foot tall fox with nine tails? I don't think so! The Kyuubi was sealed inside of you; it did not mean you became the Kyuubi! Understand?" Naruto nodded, now holding his forehead. Kage's scowl turned into a small smile, "Good. Now let me make us some food and we will eat." There was an unnatural silence as they ate.

"Tou-san? Do you think I can talk to the Kyuubi?" Kage chocked on the food he was eating.

"Why do you want to do that?" he asked.

Naruto shrugged, "I just want to know why the Kyuubi attacked Konoha. There had to be some reason as to why it attacked." Kage stared at Naruto, he felt proud that Naruto was able to deduce something like that, but angry that Naruto had to act so mature at such a young age.

Kage silently cursed at the village's stupidity and sighed, "I don't know. I'm not sure of what defenses the seal had set up for something like that. You could contact the Kyuubi and nothing would happen, or the seal would backlash and put you in a permanent coma." Naruto paled slightly and gulped.

"_I think I can help with that Naruto."_

Naruto jumped slightly, _"Ikuto? Is that you?"_

"_No! It's the Oopma-Loompa inside your head! _**(AN: I don't own Willie Wonka.) **_Of Course it's me! Who else would be talking to you inside your head?"_

"_The Kyuubi?"_

"… _Alright, you got me there, but back to what I was talking about, I figured what that medium was on your stomach. It's the seal to hold the Kyuubi. Apparently your mindscape is connected to the seal in some way. Apparently the Fourth meant for you to contact the Kyuubi in order to use its power."_

"_So I can talk to the Kyuubi now if I wanted to?"_

"_Technically, yes, you just have to get in your mindscape and find where the seal is."_

"_Why do I have to get in? Can't you just bring me in like last time?"_

"_I can't."_

"_Eh? Why not?"_

"_The reason why I could bring you in last time was because of the chakra Iruka-sensei provided and that you were unconscious. I tried to do it again last night, but the seal rejected me and locked me out. I had to work my way around the seal for quite a while just to create a stable mental connection with you, and it's difficult to keep up the connection."_

"Naruto? Are you okay?" Kage asked.

Naruto nodded, "I'm just talking to Ikuto."

"Who's Ikuto?" Naruto proceeded to tell Kage what happened yesterday after he passed out and how Ikuto was created. Kage groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose. "First the orange-haired kid with the massive cleaver, and now you. I'm starting to get reckless."

"What orange-haired kid?"

"Another story for another time. This one needs to be finished first."

"_Wait… I've got it! Naruto! Tell Tou-san that he needs to channel chakra into the seal!"_

"_Why?" _Naruto asked.

"_Since I used to be a part of him, the seal will recognize him and I can use the chakra to bring you in here until you can do it yourself!"_

"_Alright."_ Naruto took a breath, "Hey Tou-san? Can you channel you chakra into my seal?"

Kage arched an eyebrow, "Why?"

"Ikuto thinks that since he used to be part of you, the seal will recognize you and let him allow me to talk to the Kyuubi."

Kage sighed, he seemed to do that a lot lately, "Alright, but don't make the Kyuubi angry. I'm not sure what kind of state it is in. Where's the seal?"

"On my stomach." Kage lifted up Naruto's shirt and placed his hand on where the seal was supposed to be and sent chakra into his hand. Naruto flinched slightly, unlike before, when Kage had healed him with his chakra before which was warm and comforting, this chakra was cold and unnerving, like death was standing behind him. Kage suddenly let out an exclamation of surprise before the two slumped to the floor, unmoving.

Sukiru gazed at the two of them before shrugging his shoulders, "Oh well," he muttered, "nothing I can do now. Guess I'll go research while their out." He giggled perversely before placing a hand on the handle, which sent him flying backwards. He stared at the knob confused before he realized that Kage had not unsealed the room yet. "Damnit!" he cursed.

**Mindscape**

_Drip…_

_Drip…_

_Drip…_

"Owww," Kage groaned, sitting up, "Get me the license plate of the truck that hit me."

"Well, glad to see you're awake." Kage leapt to his feet and turned around in a battle ready stance. Ikuto held his hand up in surrender, "Hey, I don't mean to fight you. I probably couldn't match you anyway."

"I take it that you're Ikuto?" Kage asked. Ikuto gave a slight nod. Kage slowly walked over to Ikuto and suddenly got on his knees, hands clasped in front of him. "Please, please, please tell me you're not a pervert!" he begged.

Ikuto scoffed, "Of course I'm not a pervert." Kage let out a sigh of relief. "I am a MEGA pervert!" somewhere in a hot spring, a white man sneezed, _"I felt a disturbance in the mega pervert universe."_ The man shrugged it off and went back to his 'research'. Unfortunately, the women heard the sneeze and soon found the man and beat him. Meanwhile, back in the mindscape, Kage had face-faulted at Ikuto's declaration. "But enough about my mega pervert status; I guess you want to talk to the Kyuubi before Naruto does? It will be some time before he wakes up here." Kage nodded. Ikuto pointed to his right. "Just go through there." Kage looked to his right and saw a massive gate big enough to be placed in front of the Hokage Monument. In the middle of the gate where the two doors met was a slip of paper with the kanji for 'Seal' on it. Kage walked over to the gate and was about to slip through the bars when he heard Ikuto call out, "And Kage?" Kage looked back to see Ikuto's mismatched eyes staring back at him. "Be gentle." Kage nodded and slipped between the bars. Once he was behind the gate, it immediately became pitch black.

"Well," Kage sighed, "Guess I go forward." And he slowly walked in the darkness. Kage walked in there for what felt like hours, had Kage been a normal person, he would have gone mad from the lack of light. Not to mention the fact that the blackness seem to weigh heavily on him. He often felt like that he should just give up and do nothing. He recognized the feeling having felt like this before. It was one of utter despair. Suddenly there was a small splash as Kage stepped on something. He bent down and placed his fingers in the liquid and brought them to his lips. The taste was salty and tangy to the taste. _"Tears?"_ he wondered. As Kage looked up he saw a small, dim, red light in the distance. As he looked at it a faint sound seemed to emanate from it. He strained his ears, but could not make out the sound. Standing up, he started running towards the light. As he ran towards it, he noticed that the level of liquid started to rise more the further he ran. It was already up to his ankles. Several minutes passed as he ran, but the light never got closer and the sound was faint as ever. Kage's frustration reached its peak once he was running in waist deep liquid. He placed his hands in a Ram seal and shouted, "Kai!" and sent out a burst of chakra. The scenery around him dissolved and revealed him to be in a large cage. _"So it was a genjutsu trap." _Kage thought. He cursed himself for not being more observant. His thought process was interrupted as he heard the sound of someone crying. As he looked around, he saw a young woman in front of him, her head in her knees. She had long, luscious, red hair that flowed down her back. Two fox-like ears peaked out from her head, and they seemed to droop slightly. Behind her, nine, long, red tails, waved slightly, shuddering as the girl sobbed softly. It took several seconds before the information clicked in Kage's mind. This woman in front of him was the _Kyuubi_. "Kyuubi-san?" Kage asked softly. The sobbing stopped for a second, and then there was a blur of red and Kage found himself on his back, the Kyuubi sobbing on his chest, her tails wrapped around her. Kage, not used to something like this, just wrapped his arms around her and left her weep. Over half an hour later, Kyuubi's sobbing slowly died down. Once she finally calmed down. Kage let out a small chuckle, "I didn't realize you liked me that much Kyuubi-san." Kyuubi looked up at Kage and realized who she was on. She leapt out of Kage's arms letting out a small "Eep!" She quickly bowed to Kage.

"F-forgive me Kage-sama I did not mean-" Kyuubi stuttered before she was interrupted by Kage's laughter.

"Think nothing of it Kyuubi-san." He chuckled, "I'm just glad I was able to help you calm down." Suddenly his tone grew serious, "Care to tell me how you came to be here?"

Kyuubi gulped slightly and nodded taking in a deep breath, "After you disappeared, Kami and the other gods freaked. They had absolutely no idea where you had gone. They sent everybody possible to search every dimension to look where you had gone. My sister and I were sent here because that was the last known place you were at. Once we arrive here, we split off to search in different areas. My sister looked in Fire Country, and I searched everywhere else. We decided once a year that we would meet and let the other know what we had found. After our second year of searching, I had gone to the place we would only to find-" the Kyuubi's voice cracked, "M-my s-sister dead on the floor in her human form, her body violated. I flew into rage and followed her killer's scent to Konoha, as to I was attacked. You know what happened after that. I was sealed into this boy and because of me-" Kyuubi started sobbing again, "Because of me he had such a horrible life. If I had had gotten to my sister earlier, she wouldn't have died, or been violated, she would still be alive, and this boy wouldn't be so sad!" Kyuubi broke down into hysterics, blubbering and sobbing. Kage slowly stood up his hands clenched tightly and his body shaking slightly. The air around him grew cold and brisk. His blood boiled whenever he heard something like this, the feral side of his was screaming for him to tear apart the entire village and drown it in blood. Slowly, he calmed down and walked over to Kyuubi and embraced her causing her to stiffen slightly.

"There was nothing you could do." He murmured, "If you had gotten there, what would have happened? You would probably have been violated and killed as well. Now, you have been given a chance to take revenge on your sister's killers. You can help this boy become strong and he can help you as well." Kage looked down into Kyuubi's red eyes, "And I will to." Now that Kage was looking at Kyuubi, he saw that she was rather attractive, with her heart shaped face and red lips and her canines that jutted out slightly from her lips, giving her a slightly feral look to her features. Suddenly he realized that she was naked and her rather well endowed breasts were pressing into his chest. He breathed in through his nose to prevent the oncoming nose bleed. _"Not a pervert, not a pervert, not a pervert."_ was his inner mantra. Once again, Kyuubi stopped sobbing and relaxed into his embrace. He softly cleared his throat, getting her attention, "I'm guessing as much as you would like to stay like this," Kyuubi blushed slightly, "Your container would like to speak to you," a mischievous grin grew on his face as Kyuubi nodded. He swiftly picked her up and walked to the gate, carrying her bridal style. His movements got a slight yelp from Kyuubi, "K-Kage-sama!" Kage just chuckled and continued to walk towards the gate, where Ikuto and Naruto waited.

**Omake- What happened at the Academy?**

"So this is where Naruto learns to be a ninja." Kage said, walking through the halls of the academy.

"Doesn't look like much to me." Sukiru muttered.

"Looks can be deceiving." Kage said "Like that one woman some time ago."

"I swear it was a woman!" Sukiru shouted, his face flushed with embarrassment.

Kage arched an eyebrow, "Oh really? _His_ body proved otherwise."

"You're never going to let go of that are you?" Sukiru muttered, depressed.

Kage let out an evil laugh, "Nope!" Sukiru growled and gave shove Kage, hard. Kage stumbled and fell into a room. Kage sat up when he heard a girly shriek behind him. Slowly, he turned around and saw that the room he was in was the woman's bathroom.

"Get the pervert!" one of the women shouted.

"N-now l-let's not be hasty." Kage stuttered. He turned around and ran out of the bathroom, the women hot on his heels. After several hours of running, destruction, severe pain, and some hastily made apologies; the women finally forgave Kage for his mistake. Sukiru during this entire time just sat there and laughed at Kage's misfortune and also got some peeks at some of the women's bodies as well. It was a good day.

* * *

**Kage no hon'no: *sniffs and wipes tear from eye* That was so touching! There was some fluff between Kage and Kyuubi at the end there! It was also my first time at trying an omake, so tell me how you thought of it.**

**Kage: I'll admit that last part was rather… sweet. But I have a question for you.**

**Kage no hon'no: What is it?**

**Kage: WHY ARE WE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DESERT?**

**Kage no hon'no: Well, as you know, lawyers are the bane to an author's existence, combine them with zombies, you have a really tough opponent. So I decided to teleport us, but I was a little rushed in doing so, so we ended up here.**

**Kage: Another question. Where's Naruto?**

**Kage no hon'no: Well, I had to give those guys someone, so I gave them Naruto. His sacrifice will never be forgotten.**

**Kage:*sweatdrops* You forgot him didn't you?**

**Kage no hon'no: Yes, yes I did. I'll save him next chapter. Anyway, be sure to Read and Review! Please take a look at the poll on my profile as well please! Ja ne!**


	6. Chapter 5: Things Better Left Unseen

**Kage no hon'no: Sorry to interrupt the program, but I have some things to say. First, writer's block _blows_. It took me forever to get up this chapter; I now hate filler chapters with a passion. Second, why can't you people just review my story? It would take no more then ten minutes of your time to review, so why can't you? Third, can you please vote on my poll? I need to know what pairings I'm going to do early so I can get some chemistry going early in the story instead of a sudden relationship late in the story. Fourth, can you please review? I'm begging you here. Anyway, here is the disclaimer. Disclaimer: Kage no hon'no does not own Naruto. Kage, Sukiru, and Tsuyo are his OCs and thus his.**

**Word Guide**

"Hello" Normal talking

"_Hello" Normal thinking/flashback_

"**Hello" Demon/Summon talking**

"_**Hello" Demon/Summon thinking**_

"**Hello" Jutsu/Move**

**Chapter 5: Things Better Left Unseen…**

The ANBU rapped his knuckles on the wooden and waited. Several minutes passed and no one came to answer the door. He knocked again, longer and louder this time. Again for several minutes there was no answer. Just as he was about to knock again there was a loud crash and something flew past the ANBU and smashed into the tree behind him. Quickly drawing a kunai, the ANBU cautiously peeked into the suspiciously human-shaped hole in the house to see Kage standing there with his arm straight out, muttering something about "perverted men and their perverted ways."

"Umm, Kage-sama?" the ANBU asked meekly.

Kage put down his arm and sighed, "What is it?"

"Hokage-sama wishes to see you in his office."

Kage let out a groan, "He wants to see me now?" he sighed once again, "Very well, I'll go see him." He walked over to Sukiru, who was still flattened against the tree. "You are to stay and watch Naruto, clean up this mess while you're at it. If I find out that you tired to have him help you with your 'activities'…" Kage left it at that and sank into the ground.

Sukiru slowly peeled himself from the tree. "Why do I have to do all of the cleaning when he caused it?" he murmured.

"Just do it Sukiru," Tsuyo said, appearing on the roof, "because of you don't he's going to kill you, again and lock you up so you can't do any of your 'activities'."

"Kami-sama, why art thou so cruel to one such as me?" Sukiru sobbed, anime tears running down his face. "If it's because I peeped on you it was only once and it was by complete accident!"

The ANBU silently sweat dropped _"I don't get paid enough for this." _ He thought to himself.

**Hokage's Office**

"You wanted to see me Sarutobi? What's with all these people?" Kage asked, gesturing to the half-dozen jonin in the room.

"I called you here because there are some things that need to be done in order for you to become a shinobi." Sarutobi answered. He gestured to the blonde haired man next to him, "This is Inoichi Yamanaka, he will be doing your physiological evaluation."

"You mean he's going to go into my mind?" Kage asked, "Its suicide for anyone else to go in there except me!"

"Regardless of the risk, this needs to be done." Sarutobi said.

Kage sighed, "Fine, but he needs to promise me this, when he is in my mind, he cannot, whatsoever, touch ANYTHING in my mind. I have to go in there with him to keep all of the nastier things away from him while he walks about." Sarutobi looked at Inoichi, who nodded and walked up to Kage. He went through several handseals and placed a hand on Kage's head and said, **"Mindwalk Jutsu."** and the two went into Kage's mind.

**Kage's Mindscape**

Kage's mindscape was… unnerving to say the least. It was a massive graveyard with a single stony path going through it. Numerous headstones were spread out through out the graveyard, most of them identical, but if one looked closely, they could see that some were older than others. A blood red mist laid heavily one the graveyard, limiting vision severely and there was a barely visible outline of a city that seemed far away. Bloody rain fell on the graveyard and the stench of blood was extremely thick in the air. Inoichi was awestruck and terrified at the same time. He had never seen a mindscape that was so… bloody. Several roars rang though the air and he shivered, thankful that Kage was here to fend off whatever was here. Inoichi walked slowly on the stone path, his feet making soft sounds against the unyielding stone. He felt something tug at his pants and he looked down to see a skeletal arm attempting to grab his leg. Uttering an oath, Inoichi jumped away and turned around to come face- to-… eh stone with a strange statue. It looked exactly like Kage; except for the fact that it was bound with so many chains that one could barely make out the statue underneath. A small plaque at the foot of the statue showed three numbers. "166." Inoichi said softly. He suddenly felt a small pull to touch the statue. Initially he resisted the pull at first, but it became stronger and his curiously of what Kage had hidden here had overcome him and he slowly stretched out a hand and brushed against one of the chains and he was thrown into a memory.

**Author Style: Flashback no Jutsu!**

_Pain. Agony. It had almost become unbearable for him. So many times he wanted to just give in and scream, but that would just make it worse, a hard lesson learned long ago. He just had to bear it a little longer. "Amazing." muttered a female voice, "Its capacity to withstand pain is astounding. We've reached the maximum level and almost no response."_

"_Shut it off." said a male voice, "We've gain all the information we can from this test." There was a buzzer sound and he fell to the floor, limp. Black swarmed his vision, threatening to make him pass out._

"_Now, now my precious subject," hissed a dark voice, "you can't fall asleep yet. It's time for your daily dissection and then you can go back to the tank." He felt himself picked up and dragged to a silver table. A man in white walked over to him and grinned before grabbing a scalpel and –_

**Flashback no jutsu, Kai!**

Inoichi was ripped out of the memory and he found himself against a wall, Kage's hand at his throat, squeezing the life out of him. Kage had his other hand clutching his head as if he was in pain. "You… bastard." He growled, "You dare look at something so personal? Did I not instruct you to not touch anything?" Inoichi nodded weakly grabbing at the choking arm. "Then why the hell did you ignore me?" Kage demanded, shoving Inoichi into the wall, cracking it.

"Kage, that's enough!" Sarutobi shouted. Kage's grip did not slacken. There was a flash of silver and a purple haired ANBU cut off Kage's arm at the elbow, releasing Inoichi from Kage's death grip. Kage stumbled away and looked at the stump of his arm. At a frightening pace, the bones regrew, followed by muscles and skin. He flexed it slightly and glared at the ANBU that cut off his arm and snarled, startling all in the room. Suddenly, he placed his arms at his side and turned to Sarutobi, "Oh Sa-ru-tobi!" He said in a sing-song voice. "What do you need me to do next?"

Sarutobi almost screamed in terror, Kage's normally calm eyes had taken an extremely insane glint. "Y-you need to be t-tested in the different areas of a shinobi." He stuttered, inwardly cursing Inoichi for his stupidity

"Oh, I know exactly what do for that!" Kage said joyfully. He turned to face the rest of the jonin in the room, "Who wants to join me for one of my training exercises? I call it 'Training from Hell Plan B'!" Even though it sounded like a suggestion, the tone in his voice said otherwise. The jonin in the room nodded furiously. "Good answer!" Kage exclaimed in that happy tone of his. He walked out of the room, the other people following behind him, too terrified to not to.

**Training Ground 35**

Training Ground 35 was a rather open area, with a ring of trees and a stream flowing through it. Kage stood in the center of the grounds, the terrified jonin in a circle around him. "We shall now start with the warm up." Kage said in that cheerful voice. "You all shall attempt to survive for the next five hours from me killing you! Isn't that great?" Before the jonin could say anything Kage shouted "Go!" **(AN: In order to keep the readers sane, this part had to be censored. Timeskip time!)**

**Timeskip: Five hours later and some severe beatings and mental scarring…**

"That's too bad;" Kage droned sadly, "Nobody could get past the warm up!" All of the jonin that participated in the warm up were now being placed on stretchers and carried to the intensive care ward in the hospital.

Sarutobi sighed and rubbed his temples, "Must you always be so harsh Kage? It was a simple and foolish mistake."

The air grew cold as Kage's cheery disposition disappeared and the insane light in his eyes disappeared. "That mistake forced me to live on of the worst times in my life. I gave him exact instructions on what he could do and he decided not to follow him. Be glad that I was still sane enough not to kill them." A small silence passed between him. "So when am I inducted as a shinobi?"

Sarutobi sighed, "You definitely passed the physical part, depending on the report that I will receive and your recent insane episode, it will be some time."

Kage shrugged, "I don't mind, just as long as it happens."

"Glad to hear that." Sarutobi said, "Now can you restore this training ground?" He gestured to the wasteland that the training ground had become.

Kage sweatdropped, "Uh, whoops?" he asked nervously, scratching the back of his head. Before he could start, Sukiru appeared in front of him.

"Thank the gods I found you!" Sukiru shouted, "Something serious has happened!"

"What has happened?" Kage asked.

Sukiru looked around before shaking his head, "Can't say here, too risky." He grabbed Kage's arm and the two melted into the ground.

**Kage's House**

"What was so important that you need to drag me back here?" Kage asked, somewhat annoyed."

"It's Naruto." Sukiru said.

Kage's eyes hardened, "What happened to Naruto?"

Sukiru shrugged, seeming frantic, "I don't know! He was perfectly fine one second, and then he fell to the ground with a black chakra swarming around him. Your chakra."

Kage's eyes widened, "Damnit!" he swore, "Where is he now?"

"We put him on your bed." Kage immediately rushed to the room to see Naruto on the bed, a black substance swirling around him protectively. "Neither Tsuyo or me can get though it."

Kage reached out his hand to Naruto only to jerk it back as the charka formed spikes and launched them at the offending appendage. "Sukiru, I'm going to try to get contact with him so I can see what happening inside his mind." Sukiru nodded and stepped back from Kage. Kage reached out again and the chakra attacked him again, the spikes stabbing into his hand, ignoring the pain, he pushed his hand though the chakra. His body was filled with pain as he tried to push though it. Kage gritted his teeth and continued to push, and finally managed to touch Naruto's forehead.

**Naruto's Mindscape**

Kage appeared in the hallway that represented Naruto's mind. Black whisps of energy floated along the walls and within the two pipes on the ceiling, the second pipe now filled with a deep red. Kage looked around and saw Ikuto running toward him.

"There you are!" Ikuto shouted, "Follow me! I'll show you where the problem is!" he turned around and ran off down the hallway, Kage close behind him. They eventually came to the cage the held the Kyuubi. A mass of black chakra surrounded the seal on the cage, the seal seemingly holding it at bay. "Your charka it attempting to enter the seal, but something seems to be holding it back." Ikuto explained, "If this keeps going, the seal will break soon."

"Where's Naruto?"

"I placed him in a sleep like state within his mind; the confliction was causing him pain." Kage growled and stared at the seal, analyzing the details of the paper. Suddenly an idea popped into his head and he walked up to the seal. He lifted himself up to the level of the paper. He grabbed a corner of the paper and muttered to himself, "This had better work." And he ripped off the corner of the seal. There was an explosion of red charka before it was drawn back into the seal, along with all of the black charka. Kage looked at the paper; the piece he had torn off was now back where it was, as if nothing had happened.

"What did you do?" Ikuto asked.

"I had attempted to remove part of the seal holding the Kyuubi. I assumed that there were counter measures to prevent the rush of Kyuubi's chakra killing Naruto, by drawing it back into the seal, since part of the seal was compromised, it also took in my chakra, thus repairing the seal." Kage explained.

"That was rather risky of you." Ikuto noted.

Kage gave Ikuto a genuine grin, "But the risk was worth it." Kage waved at Ikuto and brought himself out of Naruto's mind.

**Out of the Mindscape**

Kage opened his eyes and saw that the chakra surrounding Naruto was now gone and Tsuyo and Sukiru stood by his side. "Everything okay?" he asked. The two nodded. He sighed in relief. "Thank goodness. I'm such an idiot, I should have checked to see if my chakra was compatible first."

"Hey don't blame yourself Kage," Sukiru said, "You had no idea that the seal would act that way."

"I know, but-"

"Hey!" Tsuyo interrupted, "Naruto's waking!" The blonde haired child slowly opened his eyes and looked around from him prone position. He opened his mouth to say something, but instead sneezed, causing a hail of dark spikes to shoot out from his and the three men to contort their bodies in ways thought impossible. The barrage of spikes stopped and Naruto closed his eyes, falling asleep.

Kage blinked, dumbfounded, "Sukiru?"

"What?"

"Did Naruto just use one of my abilities by sneezing?"

"…It would appear so."

"Alright. I blame you."

"Nani? Why?"

"Because I can."

**Kage no hon'no: Well that was an interesting chapter! Sorry if it seemed a little short, but I needed to finish this arc up. You got to see a glance of 166 one of Kage's more dangerous moods, and Naruto has some new abilities! This chapter concludes the Meeting Arc! Next time expect a time skip or two as we move into the Graduation Arc! Just to let you all know, I will not be able to update for some time, so Read and Review please! Ja ne!**


	7. Chapter 6: Graduation Day

**Kage no hon'no: Hello and welcome back to the next installment of Uzumaki's Shadow! *Audience cheers* Last time we came to a close of the Meeting Arc, and we shall now begin of the Graduation Arc. So expect more action, more humor, more fluff, and more awesomeness! Sukiru, do the disclaimer!**

**Sukiru: Why do I have to do the disclaimer?**

**Kage no hon'no: *Dark aura appears* Are you questioning my authority as an author?**

**Sukiru: N-no Author-sama.**

**Kage no hon'no: *Aura disappears* Good! Now do the disclaimer.**

**Sukiru: Disclaimer: Kage no hon'no does not own Naruto. Kage, Sukiru, Ikuto, and Tsuyo are his.**

**Word Guide**

"Hello" normal talking

"_Hello" normal thinking_

"**Hello" Demon/Summon talking**

"_**Hello" Demon/Summon thinking**_

"**Hello" Jutsu/Moves**

* * *

**Chapter Six: Graduation Day**

**Timeskip: Ten years later…**

The alarm clock let out a shrill ring before being destroyed by a black spike. However, the alarm clock had done its job. A figure stirred underneath the covers, revealing a mess of blonde hair streaked with black. "Naruto, get up!" Kage shouted from the kitchen. Naruto simply groaned and pulled the covers back over his head. "Naruto Uzumaki-Kyoki, you get up right now or no ramen for you!" The reaction was instaneous; Naruto leapt out of his bed and ran over to his closet. He opened it only to recoil from the blinding orange suits within. Quickly recovering, he grabbed the suits and tossed them on his bed, behind them was a single black cloak on a hanger, grabbing it and throwing it over his shoulders, Naruto headed for the kitchen. As he walked in the kitchen, he saw Kage sitting at the table that had several stacks of papers on it.

"Working hard Tou-san?" Naruto asked.

Kage looked up from his work and gave Naruto a tired smile, "Finally decided to end your little game?"

Naruto nodded, "I think it's about time to end it, it's getting a little boring. Also if I fail again, I can't become a genin."

Kage let out a small chuckle, "Well, that would be quite a problem for you wouldn't it? Go have fun freaking out your classmates; I need to finish denying all of these marriage proposals."

"What marriage proposals?" Sukiru asked, walking in the kitchen.

"Because I am in the CRA, I am required to have at least four ma-, wives and that thrice damned council keeps sending me all of these marriage proposals, but all of these women are-" Kage stopped talking as he realized who was in the room.

Sukiru simply stared at Kage in disbelief for several seconds before he burst out laughing, "Yes!" he crowed, "Finally, after ten thousand and twenty five years you'll finally get laid! I cannot tell you how proud I am of you right now! I can't wait to-"

"Naruto," Kage said calmly, "I think it would be best if you went to school now."

Naruto nodded and headed for the door, "Don't kill Sukiru-nii-san too much!" he called out, "I need help practicing my jutsus today!" Kage said nothing and slowly got out of his seat. Once he heard the door close he cracked his knuckles and walked over to the now sweating Sukiru.

**Naruto POV**

Naruto chuckled when he heard Sukiru's scream of pain. Then his face got a serious look and he pulled hood on his cloak over his head, hiding his face from view. "I think," he whispered, "Everyone's in for one hell of a surprise."

**Ninja Academy fifteen minutes later…**

"_What do you know?"_ Ikuto said, _"You're on time for once."_

"_Shut it Ikuto,"_ Naruto snapped, _"I was late to keep my part intact."_

"_Right,"_ Ikuto said sarcastically, _"It had nothing to do with the fact that you were sleeping in all the time."_

"_Would you two stop it for once?"_ Kyuubi growled, _"I would like some peace and quite here!"_

"_Yes,"_ Ikuto said, _"Lets leave Kyuubi alone so she 'relieve' herself meanwhile shouting Kage's name."_

"_I-I don't know what you're talking about!"_ Kyuubi said, sounding embarrassed.

"_You know Kyuubi,"_ Ikuto said in a lecherous tone, _"I was originally a part of Kage, so if you slept with me-"_ Naruto heard a faint crunch in his mind, _"Or you can…crush my balls,"_ Ikuto said, his voice several octaves higher, _"That works too._"

"Naruto Uzumaki-Kyoki?" Iruka called.

Naruto smiled under his hood and raised his hand, "Here."

Iruka opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted by a kid in a gray jacket asking, "Naruto? Is that really you buddy?" there was an audible *crack* as every one whipped their heads around to see at the top of the classroom, not an orange wearing blonde, but a hooded figure garbed in black.

'Why are you looking at me?" Naruto asked, "I'm not the teacher here."

Iruka, who had gotten over his momentary shock by then cleared his throat to get the classroom's attention, "Naruto is correct. Welcome to your graduation day, today you will be tested on your taijutsu, skill with shuriken and kunai, and your ability to perform the three academy jutsus. We shall now head outside for the taijutsu and shuriken and kunai portion of the test."

**Academy training grounds five minutes later…**

"Alright, when I call your name, come into the ring to spar against one of the teachers here. You either need to avoid being hit in a critical area for three minutes, or get three successful hits on the teacher. Choji Akimichi, you're up." While the other kids waited for their turn, some of them kept glancing at Naruto, who was talking to the kid in the gray jacket.

"It's about time you decided to end your so called game." Kiba said.

Naruto nodded, "I felt like it was time for it to end, it was getting rather boring."

"Alright man, what did she threaten?" Kiba asked. Naruto looked around cautiously before leaning over and whispering in Kiba's ear. Kiba's face instantly paled, "You have one crazy girlfriend." He said shakily.

Naruto just shrugged, "But she's my crazy girlfriend." Naruto suddenly looked at Kiba, as if he missed something. "Where's Akamaru?"

"He got sick a couple days ago, so my sister is taking care of him."

"Kiba Inzuka!" Iruka called.

"Good luck," Naruto whispered. Kiba grinned at Naruto before he headed for the ring. He walked out two minutes and twenty-three seconds later, a large grin on his face. He walked back over to Naruto who gave him a high-five. While they waited for Naruto's turn, Naruto pulled out a shoji board and started a game with Kiba. Just as Naruto was about to put Kiba in checkmate, Iruka called out, "Naruto Uzumaki!"

"Finally!" Naruto muttered as he stepped into the ring. Across from his position, Mizuki stood in a battle ready stance, giving Naruto the most hate filled glare he could.

"Begin!" Iruka shouted. The two charged at each other. When they were about two feet away from each other, Naruto's right foot suddenly slipped on some loose gravel, causing him to fall on his back. His foot, however, unerringly followed the path it was set in. There was a sickening crunch as Naruto's foot met Mizuki's groin, lifting Mizuki several inches in the air, an expression of incredible pain on his face before he collapsed to the ground. Every other male there winced and instinctively covered their own groins. "Umm, Since Mizuki is incapacitated, Naruto passes." Iruka said, sounding subdued. Naruto quietly picked himself off the ground and walked back over to Kiba. "We shall now move onto the shuriken and kunai test, you will be given ten shuriken and kunai each and you shall throw them at these targets, you shall be scored on you accuracy." Kiba and Naruto silently waited for their turn, playing shoji, Kiba cursing every time he lost. Soon enough, it was Kiba's turn. He quickly threw his shuriken and kunai one after another, getting a 7/10 on both. After Naruto won several more times against Kiba, he was called up for his turn. He took his weapons and threw them all at once. Every single once flew past the targets and embedded in the wall behind the targets. Everybody was confused, did he miss? Their answer came from Kiba, who shouted, "Hey Naruto! I thought I told you not to make me look bad!" as if on cue, all of the targets fell to the ground in several pieces, getting a massive jaw drop from everyone watching. Iruka dumbly marked a perfect score next to Naruto's name, too stunned to say anything. "Let's… head inside for the jutsu portion." Iruka said after a couple minutes of stunned silence.

**Academy classroom thirty minutes later…**

"Naruto Uzumaki!" Iruka called.

"About time." Naruto muttered under his breath. He slowly walked down from where he was sitting and stood in front of Iruka.

"Please perform the **Henge**." Iruka said. Naruto formed a single seal and transformed into the Third Hokage, pipe included. Iruka inspected Naruto carefully before declaring his transformation perfect. "Now for the **Kawarimi**," Iruka said before throwing a blunted kunai at Naruto. The kunai stuck Naruto dead in the chest, before there was a puff of smoke revealing a chair in his place. Iruka marked down that Naruto did it without any seals and had an illusion of him being hit. "Now perform the **Bushin**." Naruto nodded and did the necessary seal for the **Bushin** once he completed the last seal, the entire room went black. Iruka dropped the clipboard he was holding. "How many **Bushin** did you make Naruto?" he asked, trying to find his way in the darkness.

"I'm not sure," Naruto answered, "Somewhere around a thousand or so. I can't so few **Bushin** with the chakra I have, so I have to get my chakra as low as possible before spreading it out this many."

Iruka's jaw dropped, Naruto was using the least amount of chakra possible? "Can you please dispel the **Bushin** Naruto?" Soon enough light came into the classroom again, blinding everyone in there.

"So do I pass?" Naruto asked rubbing the back of his head, causing a facefault from everyone in the classroom. Iruka nodded and handed Naruto a Leaf headband, who took it and tied it on his arm.

"I would like to congratulate those who have passed the test." Iruka said, "You are now genin of Konoha!" His words earned a cheer from everyone. Suddenly, a purple and tan blur crashed through one of the windows and tackled Naruto to the floor. Naruto looked up to see a pair of light chocolate eyes staring back at him.

"Hello Naru-chan, did you pass?" a feminine voice asked.

"Of course I did." Naruto said, "Would I ever let you down?" Iruka stared at the woman that had Naruto pinned to the ground.

"_Fishnet shirt, tan trench coat, purple pineapple hair,"_ Iruka listed silently, before the realization came upon him, _"oh no."_ "Naruto," Iruka asked cautiously, "Do you know who that is?"

Naruto nodded, "Of course I do, she's Anko Mitarashi, Snake Mistress of Konoha, Top interrogator of the I&T department, and my girlfriend."

One second ticked by…

Two seconds…

Three…

Four…

"SHE'S YOUR WHAT?" everyone shouted. Oh there had been one hell of surprise alright.

* * *

**Kage no hon'no: Damn that took some time! My muse fought me with every step of the way while doing this chapter.**

**Kage: You realize how short this chapter is right?**

**Kage no hon'no: What? *looks at word count* DAMNIT! *punches wall* Alright, I'll just have to make the next chapter extra long then. It's just going to take some time, I have AP homework, band camp, and school starts pretty soon. Please don't kill me! *cringes in fear in front of all the readers* Don't forget to vote on the poll on my profile! Read and Review! Ja ne!**


	8. Chapter 7: Breaking a Contract

**Kage no hon'no: I have returned! Now as I- *suddenly dodges a hail of bullets, rotten fruit, and a chair* Yes I know that I haven't updated in a while but you shouldn't- *dodges a fireball* -be that angry, I was trying to fulfill my promise of an extra long chapter, and I have prior commitments, namely school and marching band. The only days I get some free time are Sundays, Tuesdays, and sometimes Fridays. So my updating will be a little slow, I'm sorry! I am at least making the effort to get Uzumaki's Shadow updated! (Curse you writer's block! Curse you to a thousand years in hell!) Rant aside, this chapter is going to be longer than most, so that should tide you over till the next one.**

**Kage: Hey, I just realized something.**

**Kage no hon'no: What?**

**Kage: We haven't tried saving Naruto yet.**

**Sukiru: Oh, there's no need to.**

**Kage no hon'no: Why?**

**Sukiru: Anko already beat us to it.**

**Kage no hon'no: What's Naruto doing now?**

**Sukiru: 'Thanking' Anko for saving him.**

**Kage no hon'no: Okay then. On with the chapter! Kage, disclaimer please.**

**Kage: Disclaimer: If Kage no hon'no owned Naruto, Naruto would have been a whole lot more kick ass and not nearly as dense. But sadly he does not, but Kage, Sukiru, Tsuyo, and Ikuto are his.**

**Word Guide**

"Hello" Regular talking

"_Hello" Regular thinking_

"**Hello" Demon/Summon talking**

"_**Hello" Demon/Summon thinking**_

"**Hello" Jutsu/Moves**

* * *

**Chapter 7: Breaking a Contract and Deciding a Team**

**Kage's House, twenty minutes after Naruto left…**

"Damnit!" Papers covered in notes and diagrams went flying through the air. Kage let out a frustrated growl, "Nothing seems to work!" he muttered, "Anything that I would try with the seal would either leave Naruto or Kyuubi dead, or both! Damn you Minato! You really didn't want me freeing Kyuubi did you?"

"Hey Kage," Tsuyo called, walking in, "Have you seen-" He stopped when he saw the destruction in the room. "What on earth happened here?"

"It's that thrice-damned seal on Naruto!" Kage shouted. "I can't seem to find a way to remove it safely!"

"Do you want some help?" Tsuyo asked.

Kage looked over at Tsuyo, "Well I would like someone else's opinion, but you never really took an interest in sealing."

Tsuyo shrugged, "I still haven't but I might be able to see something that you can't. Just keep it simple."

Kage sighed, "Alright, I'll try to keep it simple, but try to stay with me."

Tsuyo nodded and sat down across from Kage, "So, tell me how the seal is supposed to work."

Kage breathed deeply, "The seal containing Kyuubi is a rather complex one. The foundation of the seal is an Eight Trigram Seal, but that's where the similarities end. What the Eight Trigram Seal's original purpose was supposed to be is a combination of a storage and conversion seal. The seal was used to seal a type of charka and slowly feed the chakra into the person's system. So for example if you seal a large amount of medical charka into an Eight Trigram Seal and sealed it on a person, their healing capabilities would be increased until the store of medical charka ran out. At that point, the seal would have to be refilled or the seal would dissolve."

"Sounds pretty useful," Tsuyo commented.

"It was," Kage agreed, "But it was a long and sometimes painful task to create the seal and store chakra into it, not to mention that it usually requires the person's charka to power the seal, so the seal was considered obsolete. Now how the seal works on Naruto, it is still a storage and conversion seal, but with some added parts. This part here," Kage said gesturing to the upper right of the seal, "Contains a formula to help dilute and combine Kyuubi's demonic chakra with Naruto's."

"Wait," Tsuyo interrupted, "If the seal is trying to convert that much demonic charka, shouldn't Naruto have died from the required chakra to power it?"

"Normally you would be right." Kage said, "The more chakra in the seal, the more chakra required to power it. But that is where this part comes in." he pointed to the lower left of the seal, "In this part, there is a formula combining the Eight Trigram Seal with a Contract Seal."

"Who is the contract with?" Tsuyo asked.

"The Shinigami." Kage answered.

Tsuyo let out a low whistle, "So that's how Minato died, he practically committed suicide."

Kage nodded, "Well, I hope having his soul torn out was painful. Anyway, because of the formula, it requires the Shinigami to power the seal, not Naruto."

"So what is the problem?" Tsuyo asked.

"Several," Kage answered, "I can't just remove the seal, though Kyuubi's charka is diluted when it is combined, it is still demonic chakra. Normally demonic charka is harmful to humans, but Naruto has been given a constant amount since birth, so his body has adapted to it. Now his body requires that charka to function. So if I remove the seal, he no longer receives that chakra and he will die from withdrawal."

"So?" Tsuyo said, "Just have Kyuubi turn him into a hanyo."

"Now that usually would work," Kage said, "But now my chakra is now circulating through his body, which means his body will gain the attributes of my body."

"That shouldn't change any-" Tsuyo's eyes went wide once his brain processed the information. "Oh, that would be-"

"Absolutely disastrous." Kage finished, "So anything dealing with a demonic nature is out."

"What about just removing Kyuubi's soul?" Tsuyo asked.

"Another problem there," Kage said, "The contract has bonded Naruto and Kyuubi's soul, so I can't just remove it, as I would be removing Naruto's soul as well. Another fact is that Kyuubi's soul has been split in half."

"What do you mean?"

"Only the yang portion of Kyuubi's soul is in the seal." Kage explained, "Even if their souls weren't bonded, I can't just remove her soul. Since her soul is incomplete right now, it will attempt to complete itself, so it would drain anyone's soul within a hundred mile radius, our included."

"So taking out Kyuubi's soul is bad." Tsuyo summarized.

"Yes." Kage said. The two sat there in silence for a while.

"I think I have a solution to our problem." Tsuyo finally said.

"What?" Kage asked.

"Well, since it's Shinigami that bonded Naruto and Kyuubi's souls, just have her break that bond. I'm pretty sure that she has the yin side of Kyuubi's soul as well. Once the bond is broken and Kyuubi's soul is whole, we find Kyuubi's body, place Kyuubi's soul in it, and add about a tail's worth of her chakra as well. Kyuubi's chakra is constantly regenerating, so she would quickly regain her other tails, and Naruto would still receive Kyuubi's chakra, and Shinigami would still power the seal." Kage stared at Tsuyo, stunned. Tsuyo waved a hand in front of Kage, "you still there?'

"Tsuyo," Kage said slowly, "if I wasn't a straight man, I would kiss you right now! This works out perfectly! I just need to… to…" he slowly trailed off and started sweating slightly.

"What?" Tsuyo asked.

"Talk to Kami." Kage whimpered, "She's going to kill me. I completely forgot that all of the gods are looking for me."

"It can't be that bad." Tsuyo said, trying to comfort Kage.

"I disappeared without any trace, and have made no attempt to contact Kami in eighteen years, which during this entire time she has been frantically searching every dimension for me." Kage deadpanned.

Tsuyo sweatdropped, "I take back what I said, you're completely screwed over."

"Thanks for the support." Kage deadpanned. He stood up from the table, "Might as well get it over with." He moved his hand in the outline of a doorway. Several seconds later, a shimmering portal appeared in front of him. "Wish me luck." He said before walking into the portal.

**Gods Realm: Kami's Office**

Kage let out a sigh as he walked up to the receptionist's desk. "I have an appointment with Kami."

"Name?" the lady asked, not looking up from her paperwork.

"Kage Kyoki."

There was a small gasp and a clatter as the receptionist dropped her pencil. Several seconds later, she snatched the phone on her desk and frantically dialed in a number, constantly looking at Kage. After it rang for several seconds before saying, "I'm sorry to interrupt Kami-sama, but I think you need to know this, Kage is standing across from me right now!" There was several seconds of silence before the doors to Kami's office burst open. Standing in the doorway was a woman wearing a black kimono. She was about six feet tall, pale skinned, with black hair. Her figure was shapely, with an ample breast size and rounded butt. Her face was heart shaped, with a firm jaw and defined nose and silver eyes that were wide open, her gaze aimed directly at Kage.

Kage shifted uncomfortably underneath her scrutiny, "Uhh, Hi Kami-chan!" He said nervously, "How have-" he was cut off as he was thrown back by a bolt on energy, sending him flying and crashing into the wall behind him. Groaning, he slowly pried himself off the wall, stumbling forward before he was sent back into the wall with a bolt of energy from Kami. She walked over to Kage and grabbed him roughly by the collar of his cloak and slapping him across the face. Hard.

"EIGHTEEN YEARS!" She screamed, "YOU VANISHED FOR EIGHTEEN YEARS!"

"Look, Kami-" Kage started before she slapped him again.

"BE SILENT!" Kami snapped. Kage wisely did so. "You disappear without any trace, no indication where you were going! I had everybody searching all the dimensions down to the last atom! The only indication that you were still alive was the disturbance when you jump dimensions ten years ago! You decide to show up now, acting as if nothing has happened! Do you have any idea of how worried I was, or my sisters?"

"Kami, you need to calm down." Kage said calmly.

"Don't you dare tell me to calm down Kage!" Kami screeched.

"Kami, just calm down." Kage repeated.

"Don't tell me-" Kage broke free of her grip and gripped her shoulders, squeezing hard.

"I said **CALM DOWN!**" Kage shouted, unconsciously leaking out some killer intent. Kami stopped talking in froze, fear flashing through her eyes for a second. Kage let out a sigh and relaxed his grip on Kami's shoulders. "I'm sorry I had to do that, but you wouldn't have listened to me otherwise. I was going to tell you the reason why I disappeared, and it involves Naruto."

Kami's demeanor instantly became serious, all traces of anger gone. "Tell me everything, and don't leave anything out." She demanded.

Kage sighed, "Where do I even start?"

**Thirty Minutes Later…**

"And that's the reason why I'm here." Kage finished.

Kami let out a small groan as she rubbed her temples with her fingers. "Why can't anything ever be simple with you?"

Kage let out a mirthless chuckle, "Oh my dear Kami-chan, I am the physical embodiment of Murphy's Law. Nothing is ever simple, nor ever will be, simple once I get involved in a situation."

A small smile appeared on Kami's face, "I think you would just stir things up just for fun."

"Maybe so." Kage stood up from his chair and stretched, "So, about my reason for coming here."

Kami nodded, "Just a second." She pressed a button on her desk, "Can you have Shinigami come to my office please?"

"No need, I'm already here." Standing in the doorway was a woman wearing a grey kimono. She looked similar to Kami, except her hair was grayish silver, her eyes a pure gold and her breasts were slightly larger than Kami's and her butt more round.

"Nice to see you Shin-chan," Kage said. "How long were you waiting there?"

"Long enough to hear what you want me to do." She answered, walking slowly over to Kage.

"And?" Kage asked.

"And what?" Shinigami asked.

"Don't play with me." Kage snorted, "I know you want something in return, especially since I'm asking such a big thing of you. Breaking a bond between souls is not an easy thing to do."

"You are correct," Shinigami said, before appearing behind Kage and draping her arms across his shoulders. "And I hope you have a good idea of repaying me for this."

Kage gulped slightly as she ran a finger under his chin. "W-well, what would you want from me?"

"Well," she said, slowly bring her hand further up Kage's face, "I have always wondered what you look like under that cloak of yours. We've known each other for such a long time and I have yet to see an inkling of what you look like." She grabbed Kage's hood and attempted to pull it back before he grabbed her hand.

"I would like to keep it that way." Kage said, moving Shinigami's hand away.

Shinigami stepped back and folded her arms, pouting, "Mou, you're no fun. Why can't we see what you look like when you've seen us naked?"

"That happened completely by accident and I didn't see anything!" Kage retorted, turning around.

"I agree with Shinigami," Kami said, "even though you claim not to have seen anything-"

"I didn't!" Kage shouted.

"You were still in a situation where you could have seen us as such." Kami finished, "And Shinigami is not asking much of you. She just wishes to see what you look like."

Kage opened his mouth to say something, but instead sighed in defeat, "Are you sure that you want this?" Both Kami and Shinigami nodded. He sighed again, moving a hand to his hood, "Very well, just, try not to react too badly." He grabbed his hood and pulled it back, causing the two goddesses to unconsciously gasp. 'Ragged' would be the word to best describe what Kage looked like. Hs face was somewhat angular and he had a firm, slightly square jaw. His nose was of a normal size, if somewhat longer than most. His skin was a dark onyx color, almost pitch black, which the light barely seemed to reflect off. His hair was a stark white, running smoothly down the back and side of his head, obscuring them from view. The most startling feature on his face however, was a jagged white scar that ran from the top right of his forehead, between his eyes, curving slightly under his left one, and tapered off at the left side of his jaw. He smiled slightly, revealing elongated canines. "Something on my face?" he asked casually. The two goddesses silently shook their heads. He shrugged and put his hood back on, obscuring his features once again. "Well, let me know when you're ready to do your part Shin-chan." He turned around and headed for the door.

"W-wait!" Kami called out. Kage turned back to face her. "How did you get that scar?"

Kage brought up a hand to his face and lightly traced the scar. He gave a small chuckle, "Never become too confident in your abilities," he muttered, "For they may one day fail you." He turned back around and walked out the door.

**Kage's House**

"Do you think we should have gone with him?" Sukiru asked, taking a sip of sake.

Tsuyo shook his head, "Do you want to face a pissed off Kami? And Shinigami?"

Sukiru paled, "You're right, Kage can survive on his own." He tossed a bottle of sake to Tsuyo, who grabbed it and took a swig. A shimmering door appeared in the middle of the room and Kage walked out several seconds later.

"I'm back." He said.

"So how did it go?" Tsuyo asked.

"Rather well," Kage answered, "I was only thrown into a wall hard enough to burst open my internal organs, and then had my eardrums destroyed twice as well. I got Shinigami to agree to break the contract, so it was rather well." Suddenly there was a sharp knock at the door. Kage let out an exasperated sigh, "I just don't get a break today do I?" He walked over to the door and opened it. On the doorstep was an ANBU in a boar mask. "Oh hey Boar, what do you need?"

Boar cleared his throat, "The Hokage wanted you to know that Naruto has passed his graduation test-"

"Yes? And?"

Boar blinked, "You don't seem all that surprised."

Kage shrugged, "Not really. He would have passed earlier, but he didn't want to. Something about 'practicing my infiltration techniques' or something like that."

Boar blinked again, "Really? Umm, anyway, Hokage-sama also wishes for you to meet him in his office. There is a dispute over which team Naruto should be on and he wants your opinion."

Kage raised an eyebrow, but nodded, "Alright, I'll be on my way then." He turned his head and shouted into the house, "Hey Sukiru! Go take Boar into town! He looks like he needs some down time!"

Sukiru instantly appeared next to Boar, startling him, and snapped a salute, "Sir, yes Sir!" He put his arm down and placed it on Boar's shoulder.

"Where are we going?" Boar asked as they walked away.

"I, my friend," Sukiru answered, "am going to show you how you can please multiple women at the same time. To the hot springs we go!"

Silent tears ran down Boar's face under his mask, _"Truly I am in the presence of a god!"_ he thought.

**Hokage's office about twenty seconds later.**

"So I hear you want me to settle a dispute?" Kage asked, coming out of the floor.

Sarutobi looked up at Kage and gave him a small smile. "Thank you for coming Kage."

"Hokage-sama," a voice said over the speakers, "Kakashi Hatake and Maito Gai are here."

He pressed a button on his desk, "Send them in." the door swung open and Kakashi walked in. Kakashi was about 5'11" and a lean sort of build. He wore the usual jonin uniform, as well as a mask that covered the lower half of his face. His Konoha headband was on his head, angled across his face so that it covered his left eye. His hair was a light grey that stood spiked up, as if defying gravity. His uncovered eye has a slightly bored look in it, with a hint of anger. Following close behind him was Maito Gai. Gai was 6', and had a seemingly slim frame, by Kage knew that that Gai could shatter a boulder twice his size in one punch. Gai wore a dark green camouflage spandex suit, his Konoha headband was around his waist, acting as a belt. The cloth on the headband matched his spandex. Gai had his hair styled in a bowl-cut style, and his eyebrows an unnatural size. A slight tension entered the air as they entered the room. "Today when all of the jonin senseis were watching the graduation test, Naruto showed use of skills and abilities that were previously unknown. Both Kakashi and Gai have requested that Naruto be place on their team." Sarutobi whispered in Kage's ear.

"Doesn't Gai already have a team though?" Kage whispered back.

Sarutobi nodded, "That is true Kage, but since there is an odd number of graduates this time, and Naruto would be left out of the team, being placed in the reserves. Gai is willing to make his team into a four man team."

"Why not an apprenticeship?"

"No one wants to."

"Ah."

Sarutobi cleared his throat, "Thank you two for coming. I have requested Kage to come here for this as well. He will be deciding which team Naruto will go with."

Kage nodded to Sarutobi, and turned to Kakashi. "Who will my son be team with if he goes with you?"

"Sasuke Uchiha and Saruka Haruno." Kakashi answered.

"What will he learn under your tuition?"

"Well, teamwork of course, then chakra control-"

"Why do you want Naruto on your team?"

Kakashi paused, taken aback for a second, and then answered, "Because he's my sensei's son-"

Kage interrupted him again with a sigh, "I though we talked about that Kakashi."

Kakashi paused again, "S-sorry. I want him because he seems to be mainly focused on Assassination and Infiltration. With Sasuke and Sakura, they would make a good Attack team. Sasuke and Sakura would be able to distract the target long enough for Naruto to do the finishing blow."

Kage nodded slightly, and then turned to Gai, "You already have a team Gai, why do you want him?"

Gai took a breath, "I believe that Naruto would not work well with the new graduates. They are younger than him and inexperienced. My team is his age and has been in rotation for two years, and is more experienced that the other teams their age. He would be the most comfortable around them."

"Your team consists of Rock Lee, Tenten Isis and Neji Hyuuga? Correct?"

Gai nodded.

"What would he learn under your tuition?"

"At first, team dynamics through physical and mental exercises, then Taijutsu and Ninjutsu theory and practice, then-"

"What are your observations on Naruto's abilities just from the graduation exam?"

Gai paused as well, then said, "Like Kakashi, I believe that Naruto has specialized in both Assassination and Infiltration, but I think that he is also a frontline fighter, and probably uses a style meant to take out a target in a single hit. I also believe that his chakra control is better than believed, as I thought his used hand signs for a genjutsu before he used the **Bushin**."

Kage nodded again and turned to Sarutobi. "I don't understand why I was brought here. It's obvious that Gai would be the better teacher for Naruto."

Kakashi's eye narrowed slightly, "Are you saying that I'm incompetent Kage?"

Kage shook his head, "No you are an excellent shinobi, just not a good teacher. You wanted Sasuke and Sakura with Naruto on a team. Sasuke is still receiving counseling from the hell that Itachi put him through, and he has been the best of his class until Naruto revealed his real abilities. How do you think he's going to react to that? Sakura is just a useless fangirl. She might have talent for creating strategies and an aptitude for genjutsu, but she can only strategize outside combat and has done nothing to develop talent in genjutsu, she spends most of her time fawning over Sasuke and _diets_!" Kage spat the word out. "What kind of kunoichi diets? She has also been reported to act violently towards Naruto. When I asked what Naruto would be learning, you emphasized teamwork; they would never be able to work together properly."

Kakashi sighed and hung his head in defeat, "I withdraw my request, Hokage-sama."

Sarutobi nodded, "Alright then it's settled, Naruto will-"

"I have one more request to make, Sarutobi." Kage interrupted.

Sarutobi frowned slightly, but nodded.

"I am a bit worried that Gai will not be able to properly teach a four man squad, he probably has a difficult time training the team he has." Kage looked at Gai, "am I right?' Gai reluctantly nodded. "Since I already know the full extent of his abilities and the situation with the seal has copied most of my abilities to him, I think I should join team nine as a sensei."

Sarutobi opened his mouth to say something, but Gai spoke first, "I understand that you are worried about your son Kage, but would any of my students be able to learn from you as well?"

Kage nodded, "Of course. Tsuyo can help Tenten with her abilities and expand on them. Sukiru can help Lee, and I can also help Neji, as I am probably on of the only people that the Gentle Fist will not work on so well."

Gai nodded to Sarutobi and Sarutobi sighed, "Very well Kage, you can become the co-sensei of team nine with Gai as long as you are willing to teach the other with Naruto. Dismissed."

* * *

**Kage no hon'no: See? I can write long chapters.**

**Kage: It's not that long actually.**

**Kage no hon'no: *Cloud of depression appears above him while he crouches in the dirt and doodles in it* But I kept my promise that this chapter would be extra long! If I did it too long, I'd have to do the rest that long too. I'm pretty good for a new author, about three thousand per chapter.**

**Sukiru: He's right you know.**

**Kage no hon'no: Alright! Enough of that! I have some announcements to make. First, starting next chapter, I will begin to answer questions in reviews, no spoilers included though. Secondly, this shall be the last chance to vote on the poll on my profile. Some of the pairing might or might not change how things go in the story! Once I get the next chapter up, the poll will go down in twenty four hours and a new one shall go up! Thirdly, depending on how things go for the next chapter, I might change the rating of this story from T to M. If I do change it, I will change it in twenty four hours. That is all. Ja ne!**


	9. Chapter 8: Changes and Teams

**Kage no hon'no: And we're back! With a new chapter as well! After some careful thought while writing this chapter, I have decided that I will up the rating for safety. A note on my updating, I will not be constant in my updating, sometimes I get writer's block and I just don't have that much time to work on this. Anyway, true to my promise, I will be answering questions (note that question, not comments) in reviews. Since this is the first time, I will answer ones from all of the previous chapters.**

**justin the constant reviewer: Man, you had some good questions, not to mention your review on my sixth chapter made my day. Anyway, you know how when Naruto creates a Kage Bushin and orders it to something? The clone might object or complain, but it has to do it. It's similar with Sukiru and Tsuyo. They have to follow Kage's orders. So Sarutobi controls them indirectly through Kage. About his bloodline *chuckles* well, just read and find out.**

**riffin121294: Well, let's just say that Anko was getting… frustrated with Naruto continually failing the exam. You got your wish; Naruto did get a better team. It may seem weird, but there have been changes to Konoha since Kage arrived, Gai is an example of that. (Kage could not, however, get rid of that accursed haircut and eyebrows, he tried though.) So expect some of the characters to be a little… different.**

**Deatgod: You're right, I didn't mention how Anko and Naruto got together. But this shall soon be explained.**

**ThunderNinjaBird: It was not Orochimaru; this guy makes Orochimaru look like a wannabe child molester.**

**Kage no hon'no: Well, that was strangely all of the questions in the reviews, there were more reviews than that, but I guess that you want the story now. Oh well, Sukiru! Disclaimer!**

**Sukiru: Yes sir! Disclaimer: If Kage no hon'no owned Naruto, well… *gets a nosebleed and giggles like the pervert he is.* **

**Kage: *Smacks Sukiru across the back of his head and drags him off-screen* Just start it. *screams of pain are heard while the screen fades to black.***

**Word Guide**

"Hello" Regular talking

"_Hello" Regular thinking_

"**Hello" Demon/Summon talking**

"_**Hello" Demon/Summon thinking**_

"**Hello" Jutsu/Moves**

* * *

**Chapter 8: Changes and Teams**

**The next morning…**

Sunlight shone softly into the room, setting upon the two occupants in the bed. The blonde haired figure stirred and sat up, revealing it to be Naruto. He blinked owlishly before stretching and letting out a long yawn. He turned to the other occupant in his bed Anko. He smiled warmly before caressing her face with his hand, Anko unconsciously leaning into it. If someone had told him when he met Anko six years ago that something like this would happen… his smile got a perverted hint as the memories from last night came back to him. Yesterday he had officially become a genin of Konoha, which made him an adult as well. Anko almost jumped him as soon as he got the headband, but he managed to convince her to wait until night came. He silently thanked Sukiru for discreetly teaching him how to create a silencing seal; Anko had been quite… vocal last night. Naruto slowly pried himself out of Anko's grip, getting out of the bed and heading to the bathroom connected to his bedroom. He got into the shower and turned it on, closing his eyes and letting the water run over him. Fifteen minutes later, he stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around his waist and walked over to the sink. He turned the faucet and splashed his face with water. He looked up at the mirror and froze at the reflection. His skin, which had been a tan, was now a dark ebony giving his skin a smooth and polished look from what little light reflected off of it. His eyes, their deep sea blue had a now gold tint to them. The streaks of black in his hair had become a dark crimson and the blonde had a red tint to it. His hair had also flattened slightly and less spiky. He reacted like anyone else would. He screamed like a little girl. His *ahem* manly yell rang thought out the house, startling some of the sleeping occupants awake. Tsuyo and Sukiru arrived first, both of them freezing in place as they saw Naruto.

Tsuyo cursed and turned around, "Kage, get in here! It's started already!"

Kage walked in a couple minutes later, "Why are you all so loud?" he yawned, "I was having a good-" he stopped as he saw Naruto. He stared at him for several seconds before muttering, "of course this happens just when everything was going so nicely today." He walked over to Naruto, who was still freaking out, scratching frantically at his new skin to no avail. Kage casually backhanded him, sending him flying into the wall behind him. He turned around walked out of the bathroom, "wake him up and bring him into the dojo in about ten minutes." Sukiru and Tsuyo watched Kage leave the room before heading over to rouse Naruto from unconsciousness.

**Ten minutes later in the dojo**

Naruto walked into the room, wearing black pants and a white shirt. The dojo was rather modest, with a row training dummies and a weapon's rack and an open space to train. Kage was in the middle of the room, wearing only a pair of white pants, a black belt looped around it. In his hands was a pair of blood red katanas. He was currently going through a set of katas. Naruto stood there, watching his adoptive father as he moved in fluid and powerful motions, moving faster until his body became a blur. After several minutes, Kage slowed to a stop as he finished his kata. He placed his katanas on the weapons rack and motioned for Naruto to come in. Naruto walked in the room and stood in front of Kage. "Sit down." Kage said, placing himself on the floor, Naruto doing the same. He gave Naruto a serious look, "I think its time you should know some more things about me."

"Does it have to do with this?" Naruto asked, motioning to himself.

Kage nodded, "Yes it does. You know how we talked about you having my chakra in your system?" Naruto nodded, "well, this was another thing that was going to happen. I was planning on talking to you about it to help prepare you, but I guess I was a little bit off on when it was going to happen."

"What has happened to me anyway?" Naruto asked.

Kage let out a sigh, "You are starting to gain the physical aspects of, well, I guess you can call it a bloodline now."

"Bloodline?"

Kage nodded, "I was already like this, but when I had adopted you, I had made it so that I could be passed onto another person or could be born with them. Your ability to control shadows so naturally was the chakra aspect of it. What has happened to your skin is that you have grown a set of scales."

"Scales?" Naruto asked. He peered at his arm closely and scratched it. "They don't look or feel like scales."

"Well, that's the best way I can describe what they are." Kage said, "I've tried to find out what they're made of, but I could only find out that keratin is in it and they have a extremely tight overlapping pattern, giving it a strangely smooth feel, and there is some other material in it, but I have no idea what, but it's that material that makes these so strong." Naruto opened his mouth but Kage interrupted him, "questions at the end. Now I have these because I have draconic blood within me, which could explain why they're so hard. These scales have grown right over your skin, acting as a type of armor. Since these are newly grown, they will be thin and will not be able protect you from many attacks. Over time though, they will become thicker and stronger, and will protect you from receiving major damage from most, if not all attacks. You will not have to worry about any type of flame, as they are completely fire proof. Since I have lived for so long, I don't even feel most attacks. But they still have some flaws. As I said before, they are thin when newly grown, so don't try to take attacks head on. When they get stronger, they can be good enough to block several heavy attacks, but they can weaken under too much damage and break, and they take some time to repair, even with advanced healing. There are also some weak points as well. The area you need to worry about the most is your neck. For some reason, they are the thinnest there. Theoretically, they are thin so mating marks can be made there, as everywhere else is too thick."

"Theoretically?"

"I have no idea what species of dragon blood I have in me, so I have to make guesses based off things happened to me and instincts I now have. Anyway, the next area would be your head, as scales there are thicker than the ones on your neck, but not by much. This is made up somewhat by your skull will become denser and thicker, but try to avoid hits to the head."

"Will anything else happen to me?" Naruto asked.

Kage flicked Naruto on the head, "I'm getting there," he chided, "now, the next change that would happen is that you will grow a tail."

"A tail?"

Kage nodded and the belt around his waist unraveled itself and started moving around his body, "Your tail will be covered in scales as well, so it can take some damage as well," the end of his tail dangled in front of Naruto's face, "it should be around two to three meters, giving you a nice range of attack with it, and it has several uses."

"_I know what one use could be."_ Ikuto commented lewdly.

Kage got an exasperated expression on his face, "I'm guessing that Ikuto just guessed what one use for it could be?" Naruto nodded, "anyway, your tail is sensitive, so be careful what you do to it, you'll also have to cut holes in your pants to allow room for it." Kage stood up and walked over to the weapons rack, "your teeth will also change, which will happen before your tail will grow." He picked up a kunai and twirled it on his finger, "this kunai I'm holding right now is high grade ANBU material, it can slash through a centimeter of the same grade of metal, and pierce up to four centimeters of the same metal as well. It is very tough and durable as well, lasting up to a year of use before it starts to dull or bend." He bit in the middle of the kunai, his teeth cutting clean through the metal, he spat out the end he bit off into a dummy, the end going right through it. "Your teeth will become extremely sharp and tough, but the power will come from the jaws, which is why your skull grows thick and dense so it can withstand the pressure of biting through something." Kage then walked over to a training dummy that was decked out in full ANBU armor, "now this armor is very special, usually reserved for the high ranking ANBU. It is made of chakra imbued threads, which are woven into a tight mesh around a charka chain mail, making it both light weight and tough to cut through," he flexed his right hand and black five inch long claws came from his fingertips, "these claws are similar to you scales, but are made to damage instead of defend," he slashed at the dummy, cutting five grooves through the armor and shredding the dummy. "And of course the last thing that will happen," a light blue fireball exploded near Naruto, causing him to yelp slightly, "you gain the ability to breathe fire," he finished.

Naruto stayed silent for a little bit, and then asked, "Is that everything?"

Kage shrugged, "I suppose so, your eyes might be able to see things a little bit better, your body temperature will stay constant, you won't get cold or hot, you'll become faster, stronger, your muscle mass will increase, and you'll gain some instincts…" Kage slowly trailed off before he snapped his fingers, "and mating season of course!"

Naruto got a confused look on his face, "Mating season?"

Kage nodded, "Of course, the month of pure living hell that happens once year, when you get an extremely strong desire to try to court and have sex with a female. Oh and you'll die if you don't get a mate within three mating seasons."

Naruto gave Kage a long stare, "So what you're saying is that I have at least three years to find a 'mate'," using air quotes, "or I'll die?" Kage nodded, "How will I die? Death by blue balls?"

"You're not far off," Kage said, "What will happen is that your body will produce a poison that will give you a rather painful death. I guess it's a biological way to encourage mating. But you would have to get through the three years first for that happen, you'll probably lose control of yourself the first mating season and go on a rampage trying to find a mate."

Naruto let out a groan, "Anything else that I need to know?"

Kage rubbed his chin, "Well, I've gone over what will happen to you, the weaknesses, and mating season, I guess that's" he shook his head, "I almost forgot, I need to help train you in using your scales."

"I can use my scales?" Naruto asked, "How?"

"Like this," Kage held up his right hand. The scales on his hand slowly disappeared, revealing the tanned skin underneath them. "I figured out how to do this about six thousand years ago, a nice way to put away the scales when you don't need them."

"What happens to them?" Naruto asked, attempting to poke his father's hand.

Kage slapped away Naruto's hand, "I have no idea really, the best way to describe is that they burrow under the skin, so they are still protecting you, but under the skin. I have no idea how they burrow though, there is no sign of muscles or openings in the skin, nothing. But it works and I'm glad for that. I'm also going to show you how to take care of them, you need to clean them at least once a day when you first get them, them once a week later one, it helps prevent any deformities in the scales. I usually prefer to take oil baths, it both helps clean and it feels great. Now…" Kage lashed out at Naruto, sending him flying backwards.

"What the hell!?" Naruto shouted, flipping onto his feet.

"You have one week until your team assignments," Kage said, "During this week, I will be testing the limits of your bloodline, meanwhile you will figure out how to control how to make your scales burrow." An ominous look came about Kage, "you will not come out unscathed."

Naruto started to sweat nervously, _"Crap."_ He and Ikuto thought.

**One Week Later at the Academy…**

Naruto walked into the classroom, trying to hide the slight limp. Smoke wafted off the edges of his cloak as he walked in. _"You know,"_ Ikuto said, _"I used to be mad that Tou-san refused to train us, but I'm glad he didn't."_

Naruto nodded, _"Not to mention that Anko was looking at him a little bit too much." _He sat down at a desk at the back of the classroom.

"_Well, Tou-san didn't try anything,"_ Ikuto said, _"When we mentioned it him, he just shrugged and muttered, 'I am considered an attractive man, just sleep with her more.'"_

Naruto sweatdropped, _"I sometime wonder who if Kage is really as much as prude Sukiru says he is."_

"_Well Anko didn't complain, especially since your personal tail became a little bigger."_ Ikuto commented.

Naruto nodded slowly, a line of blood coming out of his nose, _"Oh, before I forget, how's Kyuubi? She recover yet from seeing Kage shirtless?"_

"_She woke up, but she's too embarrassed to talk to anyone." _Ikuto said. _"Pay attention, Kiba's coming."_

Naruto shook himself out of his daze, "Hello Kiba," he called out.

Kiba sat down next to Naruto, "Hey Naru-" he looked closely at Naruto, "is that smoke?" he asked, pointing at Naruto's cloak.

Naruto nodded, "Yeah, my bloodline showed up the day after graduation, Tou-san need to see its limits and I had to learn some things about it."

Kiba blinked, "You have a bloodline? What is it?"

Naruto held up his hand, "Watch this," he said, he concentrated for a second and his hand turned black. "Apparently my Tou-san has draconic blood running through him, and I got those attributes as well."

Kiba blinked again, "What will you be able to do?"

Naruto shrugged, "Don't know, Tou-san told me the basic things that will happen, stronger and sharper teeth and claws, faster, stronger, a tail, my scales get stronger over time, and I can breathe fire. But apparently, there will other changes that will only happen to me, there are things that my father can do I can't, and vise versa."

Kiba stared at him, "That sounds kinda awesome," he said, "you get these awesome dragon abilities."

"Yeah except for mating season," Naruto muttered.

Kiba coughed slightly, "Mating season?"

"Yeah," Naruto said, "according to Tou-san, it's the 'the month of pure living hell that happens once year, when you get an extremely strong desire to try to court and have sex with a female. Oh and I'll die if I don't get a mate within three mating seasons.'"

Kiba stared at him, "Really?"

"Yeah."

"How do you die? Blue balls of Death?"

"Not that far off."

"That's sounds way worse that an Inuzuka going through puberty."

"Probably is."

A short silence passed between them. "So," Kiba said, "what kind of teams do you'll think we'll be placed on?"

Naruto tapped his chin, "Well, you'll probably be placed on a Tracking team, probably with a Hyuuga and Aburame. As for me, I have no idea; I gave them quite the loop during the graduation test."

"Speaking of Aburames, here comes Shino." Kiba said. Naruto watched as Shino walked in, Shino had been the tallest in their class, around five three, until Naruto got a sudden growth spurt, gaining about two inches on Shino. He had bushy dark, hair and he wore the green jacket that members of his clan often war. His glasses hid his eyes, and preventing anyone from seeing any expression on his face. Shino wore his headband around his neck. Naruto had found Shino to be a rather quiet person, unless the subject was bugs. Shino seemed to unnerve him a little now; Naruto just chalked it up to his bloodline. Following behind Shino was Shikamaru. Shikamaru was about five feet tall and work his black hair in a spiked up pony tail style. He wore a mesh shirt, a short sleeved grey jacket, and brown pants, and his headband was wrapped around his left bicep. He had a bored look on his face which fitted him well. Naruto thought Shikamaru was one of the laziest people he had ever met; the only other people to match Shikamaru in laziness were the males of the Nara clan and Tsuyo. Tsuyo was often found sleeping, exercising, or both when he didn't need to do anything, which was often. Walking next to Shikamaru was Choji. Choji stood slightly taller than Shikamaru, but not by much. Choji wore black shorts, a white scarf, a blur hoari, his arms were wrapped in bandages and his head band covered his head, allowing two tufts of brown hair to stick out either side. Choji held a bag of barbeque chips, eating rapidly from them, though they never seemed to run out. Choji was rather rotund, but any derogatory term of 'fat' said around him and you found out all that mass was mostly muscle. Naruto was friendly with Shikamaru and Choji, but not much more than that, as Naruto's cover prevented much more than that. Shikamaru looked up at Naruto and then whispered into Choji's ear. Choji didn't react much, but nodded slightly. _"Looks like they figured it out."_ Naruto thought. He didn't mind much though, he no longer needed it. A couple minutes passed before the next person walked in. "Hinata." Naruto whispered. She was a couple inches under five feet, had long dark blue hair with the hair cut just above her head, with a strand of hair on each side of her head reaching just above her chin. Her eyes were a pale white, like all of the members of her clan. She wore a heavy grey jacket, with fur on the edges and navy blue pants. Her headband was worn around her neck. She looked up at Naruto and quickly looked away, blushing and fidgeting with her fingers. Naruto felt a pang of piety for her. He had realized that Hinata had a crush on him, but he found out after he had already gotten with Anko. It was going to break her heart when she found out. Naruto cleared Hinata out of his mind and focused on the next person coming in, Sasuke. Sasuke was about five foot, with black hair and onyx eyes. He wore a blue short sleeved short with the Uchiha symbol on the back and black shorts. Sasuke was somewhat a kindred soul to Naruto. About a year after Sasuke joined the academy, his entire clan was massacred by Itachi Uchiha, leaving him alive. When he came back, he didn't talk to anyone, just sat down and stared out the window. Then Kage had asked to talk to Sasuke. Naruto had no idea what his father told Sasuke, but it seemed to bring him back to normal, though he was required to visit a physiologist once a week. Even though Sasuke seemed normal, he still brooded every now then, staring off into the distance. A rumbling sounded in the distance. Over the next couple minutes, the rumbling grew louder until two girls burst through the door.

"First!" they shouted at the same time.

Naruto suddenly let out a low snarl, surprising those next to him and Naruto. Naruto pretended as if nothing happened. It was know that he disliked Sakura and Ino. Sakura was just under five foot and Ino the same height Sakura had green eyes and pink hair that went down to her shoulders, she wore her headband on the top of her head, accentuating her face slightly. She wore a red dress and dark green shorts. Ino had blonde hair and blue eyes. She had a short purple vest like blouse and skirt. The skirt was split along the sides of her legs, revealing leg wrappings underneath. Ino wore her headband around her waist. At a distance, both girls seemed attractive, but Naruto could see the effects of them dieting. Once close enough, one could see how bony their bodies were, and their skin was slightly loose, and neither had a noticeable bust. If that didn't deter someone, their personalities would. Sakura was obsessed with Sasuke, often getting violent with anyone that tried to get friendly with her, not to mention loud. Ino was not as extreme as Sakura, being good friends with Shikamaru and Choji, but she had a tendency to be bossy and very haughty. Neither was friendly to Naruto, Sakura more so, thus Naruto had no kindness in his heart for them. The argument between Sakura and Ino had increased greatly in volume, until Iruka finally walked in.

"Get into your seats you brats!" Iruka shouted, using his infamous **Demon Head Jutsu**. Sakura and Ino quickly sat down, glaring at each other while the class died down. Iruka smirked slightly before he spoke, "First I would like to congratulate you all for graduating from the academy, I am extremely proud of all of you. But now you have a hard and difficult journey ahead of you."

"_He didn't mention what kind of difficulties they would go through."_ Ikuto commented.

"_I think because there such a variety."_ Naruto replied.

"_Could at least mention the basic ones."_ Ikuto muttered.

"_Enough! He's telling us our teams."_

**(Author's Note: Teams 1-6 do not have any importance in this story and as such will be skipped.)**

"Team Seven will be Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno, and Sai Shimura. Your sensei will be Kakashi Hatake. Sai will be here later." Sakura let out a shriek of victory while Sasuke started banging his head on the desk. "Team Eight will be Shino Aburama, Hinata Hyuuga, and Kiba Inuzuka. Your sensei will be Kurenai Yuuhi."

Naruto patted Kiba on that back, "I guess I was right. Keep yourself chained around Hinata will you?"

Kiba glared at Naruto, "You should take your own advice now." Naruto just shrugged.

"Team Nine is being reformed into a four man team with Naruto Uzumaki Kyōki, Rock Lee, Tenten Isis and Neji Hyuuga. This team will have two senseis, Maito Gai and Kage Kyōki." Naruto stared at Iruka, wide eyed. "Team Ten will be Shikamaru Nara, Choji Akimichi, and Ino Yamamaka. Your sensei will be Asuma Sarutobi. Please wait here, your senseis will arrive shortly."

Naruto's thoughts whirled around as Iruka left the classroom, _"We're being placed on an existing team? With two senseis? And Tou-san is one of them?"_

"_Obviously Tou-san has had some influence in this decision."_ Ikuto said.

"_But why?"_ Naruto asked, _"He had told us that he wasn't going to train us. Is it because of the bloodline?"_

"_Maybe so," _Ikuto replied, _"When he was training us this week, there were some hits that we took that he seemed worried that we wouldn't survive being hit. I'm guessing that he was waiting for our bloodline to arrive so we could survive his training."_

Naruto thought it over before he slowly nodded, _"I suppose you're right,"_ he finally conceded, _"And he probably wanted to be a sensei on the team to keep an eye on our transformations."_

"Naruto Uzumaki?"

Naruto looked around to see a man in a dark green camouflage spandex and freakishly huge eyebrows and a bowl-cut hairstyle standing in the door way. "That's me."

"I am Maito Gai, please follow me."

Naruto got up from his seat and headed out the door and into the hallway, where he was stopped by Gai.

"I need to tell you that your father will not be joining us for some time."

"Why?"

"He felt like that you needed to get acquainted with your teammates first before he starts interacting with them, so he decided to take a simple escort mission, which should take about two weeks to finish, giving you plenty of time for my team and you to become comfortable with each other."

Naruto felt disappointed that his father wasn't going to be there, but he understood why. He took in a breath and sighed, "Alright, let's go."

**Mission Room**

"Hey, got any good low rank escort missions?" Kage asked the chunin at the desk.

The chunin checked the list of missions that he had on the clipboard. "Well, there is a new C-rank escort that just came in."

"I'll take it." Kage said.

The chunin pressed a button on the desk, "Please send in Tazuna please."

Kage started slightly, _"Tazuna?"_

The door slid open and a slightly portly man wearing a straw hat and ragged clothing and carrying a jug of sake staggered in. He squinted at Kage before slurring, "This is my protection? Some freak in a cloak?"

A dark aura appeared around Kage, "Tazuna-san," he said calmly, "it is often considered wise not to insult your protection." He appeared behind Tanzuna, katana at his neck, "It will end badly for you." He hissed into Tazuna's ear. Just as quickly as it appeared, the aura vanished. "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Kage walked out of the room, dragging Tazuna behind him.

The chunin just shook his head and sighed, "Can't wait to see the report on this one."

* * *

**Kage no hon'no: Well, there you go! Naruto will finally meet his team and Kage goes to Wave Country instead! Expect some interesting things to happen!**

**Kage: What will I be doing?**

**Kage no hon'no: Oh, well *censored* and *censored* will happen, not to mention *censored***

**Kage: Has that happened before?**

**Kage no hon'no: I don't think so; I haven't seen it in any of the fics I've read. Before we go, a reminder that the poll shall be taken down in twenty four hours, so be sure to vote! Naruto! Take us out!**

***Silence***

***More silence***

***Crickets start chirping***

**Kage no hon'no: Uhhh…. Where's Naruto?**

**Sukiru: I think he and Anko are still going at it.**

**Kage no hon'no: Still? *Sighs* Just a second. *Walks out of the room. A couple minutes later, shouting is heard and then sounds of fighting. Naruto then stumbles in half naked***

**Naruto: Alright! I'm doing it! *Curses under his breath***

**Kage no hon'no: *Distantly* I heard that! I'm screwing you over next chapter!**

**Naruto: *Shouts back* Like hell you are! *To readers* Read and Review! Ja ne! *Heads out***


	10. Chapter 9: Finally Meeting The Team

**Kage no hon'no: Hello again readers! When we left off, Naruto got an epic (At least I think so) bloodline, was about to meet his team, Kage's going to Wave, and I had a… physical altercation with Naruto about what was going to happen this chapter. Well, it didn't end well, for Naruto. Oh another thing. Unfortunately, there were not enough voters on the poll, so I had to render it null and void. I apologize to those that voted, but I have to decide on my own. However, the new poll that's up might change how some things will happen.**

**Tsuyo: *Comes in* Should we take him out of the yaoi fangirl pit yet? He's stopped screaming.**

**Kage no hon'no: I suppose so. Anko might get angry if we broke Naruto. I'll answer reviews while you get him out.**

**justin the constant reviewer: What do you mean I never said that I didn't mention Naruto in the four man team? It's right there…. *laughs nervously* okay, so I did. I guess I thought I did when I typed it. I fixed it though. Speaking about fixing things, I fixed Tazuna's name. About the Aburame clothing, it says in the Naruto wiki that Shino wears a sea-green jacket; I just changed it to green. I'll try to keep an eye on my chakra spelling, but no real promises there. **

**Lednacek: Well, if you read the chapter correctly, it starts out in the morning time. The clock in the kitchen is an analog clock, so it won't say if it's am or pm. How did you get evening from that?**

**sierra: Well, I'm glad you like my OC, but I think his name's Kage….**

**Cloud Strife6789: I'm glad you like the story, keep on reading, the major conflicts haven't happened quite yet.**

**demoninside2: I'm glad you like the humor in the story, I try my best.**

**Kage no hon'no: Well, that's all of the reviews. Let's have our newest member of the team do the disclaimer! Anko!**

**Anko: Thank you! Disclaimer: If Kage no hon'no had owned Naruto, all of the kunoichi would be extremely sexy and competent. Except for me, since I'm both.**

**Word Guide**

"Hello" normal talking

"_Hello" normal thinking_

"**Hello" Demonic/Summon talking**

"_**Hello" Demonic/Summon talking**_

"**Hello" Jutsu/Move**

* * *

**Chapter 9: Finally Meeting The Team**

**At Training Ground 49**

"Where are they!?" the female member of Team Nine shouted. She let out an angry huff and sat down under a tree. She wore a sleeveless pink blouse and dark green pants. Her eyes were a dull brown and brown hair which was put up in a bun on either side of her head, her headband tied across her forehead. She also had several different colored scrolls hanging from her waist.

"Yosh!" shouted one of the other members, "I am also anxious that Gai-sensei return with our new teammate so I may test their Flames of Youth!" This member was an oddity. He was eerily similar to how Gai dressed, with a dark green camouflage spandex suit. He also had bandages wrapped around both of his arms. His hair was styled in the same bowl-cut style and had thick eyebrows as well and large, rounded black eyes. His headband was wrapped around his waist as well, the cloth the same color as the suit as well. He bounced around on the balls of his feet, as if he couldn't stay still.

"Clam down Lee!" the female shouted, "You shouldn't be so excited! We're being reformed into a new team, which means we have to do D-ranks all over again!"

"Then we will just have to do them twice as hard to prove that our Flames burn just as brightly with another member!" Lee replied.

Tenten let out a sigh, "Not everything is a challenge Lee." She turned to the final member of the team, "What do you think of this new member?"

Neji, who was sitting in the middle of the clearing, was considered the most serious of the team. He wore a khaki shirt and brown pants. He had bandages wrapped around his right arm and leg. His hair was long and black, reaching the middle of his back and tied off in a ponytail near the end. His eyes were a pale color with out any visible pupil, indicating that he was a member of the Hyuuga clan. He turned towards Tenten, "If we are to have another member on our team, then Fate has decided that we should. I am not against it."

Tenten just groaned, "Please let this new teammate not be insane!" Further away, Naruto sneezed. A rustling of leaves caused the entire group to immediately jump into defensive stances. Several seconds later, the bushes parted and Gai walked into the clearing. Tenten sighed in relief, "Don't scare us like that Gai-sensei!"

Gai chuckled, "My dear Tenten, how else am I going to keep you alert?"

"Where is our new teammate Gai-sensei?" Lee asked, "I wish to meet him!"

Gai sighed, "Unfortunately, our new member's Flames had dampened enough that he had fallen ill, and had to go home. He will be joining us tomorrow though." He notice Neji looked at him, Byakugan activated. "Is something wrong Neji?"

"Something seems off with your chakra," Neji answered, "it looks obscured."

Gai pondered for a second, and said, "I just did recently get a new suit made with chakra threads; they may not have yet adjusted to my chakra."

Neji paused, and then nodded, "Yes I suppose that could explain it."

Gai smiled, "It's quite fine Neji." Suddenly, dark tendrils sprung up around the three and bound them; several more had sharpened ends poised to strike at multiple fatal areas. Where Gai stood was a young man cloaked in black, "We all make mistakes." He said in Gai's voice.

"Who are you?" Lee shouted, "Where is Gai-sensei?"

The figure smirked, "He is otherwise occupied. I'm glad to see you're smart enough not to try to struggle, you would have died."

"Let us go you bastard!" Tenten shouted.

He smirked, "Now, now Tenten, insulting your captor is not a good idea." He walked over to her, "You are at my complete mercy, and I can do whatever I want to you." He licked her ear, getting a shiver from her and a tint of fear entered her eyes.

"That's enough!" everyone looked to see Gai coming into the clearing, a look of disappointment on his face.

The man sighed, "I wasn't going to do anything to her Gai-sensei, I am not that low of a person."

"I would prefer if you didn't completely alienate them though. Now please unbind them."

He sighed, "Very well Gai-sensei." The tendrils moved away, vanishing into the ground. Lee immediately lashed out with his leg, his foot slamming into the man's head and sending him flying into one of the trees across the clearing. He was surprised when Gai hit him on the jaw, knocking him back several feet. "Gai-sensei?"

"Do not attack your teammates outside a spar Lee!" Gai said harshly.

"It's okay Gai-sensei," the man got off the tree, looking unharmed, "He didn't really injure me, he acted accordingly to someone who just attacked them and threatened one of their teammates."

"Just who are you?" Tenten shouted, "Why are you here?"

The man sighed, "Of course I forgot to introduce myself, I am Naruto Uzumaki Kyoki, recent genin and newest member of your team." He bowed, "I am sorry if I scared you, but some of the personas I take on are not the most scrupulous."

Tenten stared at him, "You're our teammate? Why on earth did you attack us? And what do you mean by persona?"

Naruto looked at her, "I believe I just told you I am your new teammate, so why are you asking me again? I attacked you because I need to keep my skills sharpened. The personas are to help practice my infiltration skills."

Tenten opened her mouth to say something, but Gai spoke before she could, "Enough, Naruto is part of the team now and I want all of you to treat him fairly. Now, since Naruto is not all that familiar with all of you, we shall be reintroducing ourselves to him. I shall go first; I am Maito Gai, the beautiful green beast of Konoha. For me, training something I find extremely pleasurable and a great way to enjoy life. My dream is to help all of my youthful students help achieve their own goals. The only things that I dislike are those who refuse to help others and do not keep their word." He looked around at his team, who had sat down, though a noticeable distance from Naruto. "Lee, would you like to go next?"

Lee straightened as he heard his name and nodded, "I am Rock Lee, the proud blue beast of Konoha! Like my sensei, I enjoy training and pushing my limits as well. My dislikes are the same as my sensei and my dream is to become the world's greatest Taijutsu user and a splendid ninja!"

Naruto raised an eyebrow, "Why only a Taijutsu user? Shouldn't you attempt to increase your skills in Ninjutsu and Genjutsu?"

Lee's face fell slightly, "I unfortunately cannot use chakra and so those options have been closed to me."

Naruto nodded in understanding, "Ah, then you have quite the difficult goal then Lee. I wish you luck in achieving it."

Lee looked at Naruto, tears running down his face, "Thank you Naruto! You are quite the youthful teammate!"

Naruto waved him off, "No need to get so emotional, and don't judge me quite yet. Who do you wish to go next Gai-sensei?"

Gai gave a look at Neji, "Would you like to go next Neji?"

Neji nodded, "I am Neji Hyuuga, son of the deceased head of the branch family of the Hyuuga clan. I do not really like anything in particular, and I dislike the elders of the main branch, as they are the cause of some personal problems in my life. I am not really comfortable sharing what my dream is at this time."

Gain nodded, "Tenten?"

Tenten gave Gai a nod and took a breath, "I'm Tenten Isis. I've had a liking towards weapons, and specialize in them as well. I also like trying to learn new fighting styles and working at the shop that my family owns. My dream is to become a powerful kunoichi like Tsunade. I dislike people who laugh at my dream and look down on kunoichi."

Most of the males on the team looked slightly uncomfortable as Tenten pulled out a kunai, a devious grin on her face as her thoughts wandered. Naruto looked at her with slight interest, "Why are you bothered by something like that?'

Everybody else cringed as Tenten glared at Naruto, "You think that women should be looked down upon?!"

Naruto frowned, "You seem to be hard of hearing, I asked you why it bothers you that people look down on women."

Tenten's glare intensified, "It bothers me because people always think that women are weak and are meant nothing more than for producing children."

"Do you know why they think that?" Naruto asked. Tenten hesitantly shook her head. "It is because so many girls fail the academy, people look at that and assume that women are weak. However, I could connect the failure of so many girls because they are put in classes such as flower arranging and other useless classes. Nonetheless, it still convinces people of such thoughts. But you are not one of those who failed, you know that you are a strong kunoichi, so why should it bother you that people think that women are weak? Let think what they want, it does not change the fact of what you know what you are capable of. This can give you an advantage against enemies that think that way, as they will underestimate you, allowing a greater chance of victory."

Tenten gave him a confused look, "But shouldn't I care that people look down on women?"

Naruto shrugged, "You can do whatever you want, I merely made a suggestion. Anyway, I guess it's my turn. As I said before, my name is Naruto Uzumaki Kyoki. My likes are my father Kage, and my surrogate older brothers, Sukiru and Tsuyo. I love Anko very much, as we have known each other for some time. My dislikes are rapists, people who abuse other, those who use people for their own gain, the downsides of my bloodline, and that I cannot comfort someone. I have some hobbies, which are practicing my skills and techniques, listening to my father play music, and taking a bath in hot oil. My dream is to become a shinobi that my Tou-san will be proud of and eventually have a family."

"You have a bloodline?" Neji asked.

Naruto nodded, "You actually experienced part of it, those tendrils earlier? They are made out of shadows; the chakra aspect of my bloodline allows me to control shadows, though I am not that skilled at using them."

"It looked like you were pretty skilled with them." Tenten muttered.

Naruto nodded, "It may have looked that way, but it takes me time to gather them, especially for targets further away, that's why I disguised myself as Gai-sensei to distract you until I could gather the necessary amount of shadows."

"That's another thing I wanted to ask," Neji said, "what kind of technique were you using? Your charka moved exactly like Gai-sensei's. Had it not been that it looked obscured, I would have believed that you were Gai."

"It's an advanced **Henge** that Sukiru taught me," Naruto answered, "it is rather difficult to learn, as you have to be observant as to how someone moves, charka in a person's body flows similar to how they move. The obscuring was because I have not yet perfected the technique, it is difficult to force my chakra in a way it isn't used to moving, so some of it stops moving, which is why it looked obscured."

"That is an interesting technique." Neji paused, "You said that was the chakra aspect of your bloodline, is there a physical one as well?"

Naruto nodded, "There is, as of right now, I have scales that act as armor which cover my entire body, and grow stronger over time."

"Just how strong are they right now?" Lee asked.

"Approximately akin to wearing a suit of iron."

"What else will you get?" Tenten asked.

Naruto gave her a small grin, revealing his elongated canines, "That, you have to will wait to find out." A beeping sound rang out, startling everyone. Naruto pulled out a small watch, a small light blinking on it. He sighed, "I'm sorry, but I need to leave now."

"Why?" Gai asked.

Naruto looked at him, "Remember that I said I like to take hot oil baths? That's because I need to so my scales can be cleaned and prevent any defects in them. It was nice meeting you all, and I hope that our time together will be enjoyable." With that, Naruto turned around and headed out of the clearing.

Tenten blinked, "Naruto seems strange."

"How so?" Gai asked.

"He looked satisfied somehow. Like he was glad that he was here."

"Well, Kage did tell me that he failed the graduation exam twice. He might be glad that he's with a team his age."

"Who is Kage anyway?" Tenten asked, "We've heard you mention him before and you act like he could destroy Konoha with just a wave of his hand."

"That's because he can." Gai said, "Kage is one of the most powerful people you will meet. He took on the Hokage in his prime and won without even getting a scratch."

Everybody's jaws dropped, "He's that powerful?" Tenten asked. Gai nodded, "If there's someone that powerful in the shinobi forces, then shouldn't people be talking about him?"

"They can't." Gai answered.

"What?"

"They can't," Gai repeated, "When a shinobi tries to talk to someone about Kage being in Konoha besides another shinobi, they can't."

"Why?"

Gai shrugged, "That's something I would like to know too."

"Didn't Naruto say that Kage was his father?" Tenten looked where Naruto had gone, "Then just how strong is Naruto?"

Gai looked at Tenten, "I have no idea."

**With Kage**

"Achoo!" Kage wiped his nose. "Somebody must be talking about me." he muttered.

"Hey, don't be getting me sick now," Tazuna said, "I have a bridge to build, I can't do that if I'm sick."

Kage waved him off, "I'm not sick, so don't worry. Hey, can you hand me some sake?"

Tazuna looked at Kage warily, "You backwash?"

Kage gave him a deadpan look, "Everyone backwashes, I'll waterfall if that makes you happy." Tazuna mulled it over before handing the jug to Kage. Kage gratefully took the jug from him, "Been a while since I've had some sake." He lifted the bottle above his lips when a chain wrapped around him, causing him to lose his grip on the jug, where it crashed to the ground, shattering. Kage stared where the jug had been. Holding onto the chain were two dark haired ninja each with clawed gauntlets on their hands.

"What is this guy made of?" one of them asked, "Our chain won't cut him!"

"Just cut the chain Gozu!" the other one said, "The bridge builder is our real target!"

"Right Meizu!" the two disconnected the chain from their gauntlets and rushed towards Tazuna when black strands shot out from their shadows and bound them, causing them to fall to the ground.

"Excuse me," Kage called out, "Are you two the owners of this chain?"

"What the heck is this stuff?" Meizu shouted, struggling to break free.

"Answer my question please." Kage said.

"Yeah, we own the chain," Gozu shouted, "What about it?"

"Ah," Kage muttered, "So you own this chain, which caused me lose the sake I was about to have."

"Why are you so concerned about the sake?" Meizu asked, "We tried to kill you and your client!"

"Oh, I know that you tried to kill me and my client, which, perturbed me somewhat. But you destroyed my sake and I find that," a dark aura appeared around Kage, **"Unforgivable!"**

The two ninja felt themselves being dragged backwards, causing them to sweat, _"Oh no!"_ they both thought.

**(Some time later after much torturing, scarring, and a rubber ducky…)**

"What have you learned?" Kage asked in an expectant tone.

"That sake is the elixir of life." The Demon Brothers intoned, both of them bloodied and beat up.

"And?"

"That preventing someone from drinking it is a sin punishable by death."

"And?"

"We are extremely sorry for preventing you from drinking of the elixir."

"…And?"

"We shall never do it again."

"Good." Kage patted the two on the head, "Since you were so unlearned, I shall forgive you this time." He turned to Tazuna, who looked visibly shaken, "Well, let's move on, shall we?" Tazuna nodded shakily and followed after Kage, glancing back at the Demon Brothers.

"Should we go after them?" Gozu asked.

"No way, I'm not going near that man again." Meizu answered, "Let's head back to Zabuza to warn him." Gozu nodded and they both ran off into the forest.

**Later at Zabuza's hideout…**

"You two are telling me that one simple ninja defeated the two of you?" Zabuza growled. Zabuza was a pale, muscular man with short black spiky hair and small eyebrows. On his face he wore bandages like a mask which covered the lower half of his face. He wore a Kirigakure headband sideways on his head, which had a line cut through the symbol, indication he was a missing-nin. He wore a sleeveless black shirt, black pants, and wrist and leg warmers. On his back was a massive sword that curved at the end and had a hole in it near the hilt and a semi circle near the end.

"It wasn't our fault!" Meizu shouted, "We accidentally destroyed his sake just as he was taking a drink, which made him mad and then he-, he-" Meizu curled up into the fetal position and started muttering about rubber duckies and that he would be good.

"This guy was pretty tough," Gozu said, "We had used our chain on him and it didn't do a single thing." He walked over to attempt to calm down his brother.

"Couldn't be cut huh?" Zabuza murmured, "Haku! Come with me! We're going to deal with this guy ourselves!"

**End of Chapter Nine**

* * *

**Kage no hon'no: Alright, now for something a little extra…**

**Memories in the rain: Fox and Snake**

**Six years ago…**

"Looks like it's raining again." Sukiru sighed as he looked out the window.

"Again?" Naruto whined, "It's been raining for almost three days now, I'll never finish my project."

"Look on the bright side," Sukiru said, "You get to spend more time with us!"

Naruto looked at Sukiru, "Yeah… I'd rather take my chances in the rain."

Tsuyo attempted to comfort Sukiru as he crouched in the corner, a cloud of depression hanging over him. "Give Sukiru a break Naruto, he just wants to spend time with you."

"You mean he wants to corrupt me." Naruto muttered.

"True, but that's why Kage's here," Tsuyo answered, "to prevent that." He turned to Kage, who was staring out the window, "Right Kage?" Kage did not answer. Tsuyo walked over to Kage and snapped his fingers in front of Kage's face, "Wake up Kage!"

Kage jolted awake, "I'm fine!" he shouted.

"What were you doing?" Tsuyo asked.

"Just taking a power nap." Kage answered, he stretched his arms, letting out a yawn similar to a cat's. 'Hey, Naruto, want to go get some ramen with me?"

Naruto's eyes immediately lit up and he leapt into Kage's chest, "Best! Dad! Ever!" he shouted.

Kage chuckled and got Naruto off of him, "Well then," he held out his hand and a black umbrella formed in it. "Let's get going."

**Ichiraku Ramen twenty minutes later…**

Kage's eyebrow twitched slightly as Naruto inhaled his thirtieth bowl, "No matter how much I see it," he muttered, "It still amazes me how much you can eat."

About five bowls later, Naruto finally finished eating, setting the bowl down with a sigh, "That was great!" he exclaimed.

"Yes it was," Kage muttered, pulling out a leather bag, "How much this time?" Teuchi handed him the bill, which Kage read and sighed, "I'm glad I make so much money." He pulled out several gold coins and placed them on the counter, "Let's go home Naruto."

"Okay!" Naruto jumped off his seat and grabbed onto Kage's hand and both walked out of the restaurant.

"Come again!' Teuchi called after them.

Kage turned to wave at him when a purple haired girl bumped into him. "Hey be careful!" he called after her. He started to turn around when he stopped and started checking his pockets. He whirled back towards the girl, "Give that back!" The girl turned around and stuck her tongue out at him. Suddenly, she slipped on the wet cobblestone and let out a cry of pain as her head collided with the ground. The money bag fell out of her hand and slid out of her grasp. She attempted to grab it again, when a sandal wearing foot came down upon her arm, breaking it and causing her to cry out in pain.

"Stealing from people again?" the chunin standing above asked. He kicked her in the side, "I'll show you not to steal!" He kicked twice when a crimson blade entered in through his back and pierced his heart and came out his chest.

"Gosh darn it," Kage muttered, "I made a mess." He opened up a scroll and sealed the dead chunin into it. He looked at the girl on the ground, who had curled up into the fetal position, trying to hide her sobs. She stopped crying as the rain stopped coming down upon her. "Well, don't you look miserable?" Kage asked. She looked up to see Kage standing above her holding an umbrella, Naruto next to him. Suddenly, Kage picked her up and gently slung her over his shoulder.

"Let me go!" she cried out, weakly beating on his back with her good arm.

Kage ignored her, "Naruto, we're going home." Naruto nodded and followed Kage, the girl futilely trying to get free.

**Kage's house ten minutes later…**

"Another kid?" Sukiru asked, "And a girl this time. Are you sure that you aren't a pedophile Kage?"

"Sukiru, shut up or I'll kill you." came Kage's reply as he set the girl down in the chair. "Sukiru, stop sulking and go tell Tsuyo to go make some food, I don't think she's eaten for some time." Sukiru got up from the corner he was sulking in and headed towards the kitchen. Kage's right hand glowed green as he checked the girl's broken arm, "Looks like a clean break." he muttered. He looked at the girl, "I'm going to have to set the bone before I heal this, so it's going to hurt, alright?' the girl nodded slightly. Kage took the arm and gently put it back into place, causing the girl to whimper in pain, with the bone set, he quickly healed the bone. "Alright," Kage stood up, "I'm going to get you some food, so wait here." He started to head out of the room.

"Why?" the girl asked quietly.

Kage stopped at the doorway, "Why not?" he replied, and left the room.

Naruto stood there in the room, looking at the girl, before walking over and sitting next to her, "Don't worry," he told her, "Tou-san is a really nice guy. He won't hurt you." The girl stayed silent. "What's you name?" he asked. The girl didn't answer. Naruto sat there quietly looking at the girl.

A couple minutes later she finally spoke. "A-Anko."

Naruto's grin could have split his face in half, "I'm Naruto. Nice to meet you."

* * *

**Kage no hon'no: Well, that's another chapter done! I hoped you like the extra as well!**

**Kage: I have to admit that last part was slightly… touching.**

**Naruto: *sniffle***

**Kage no hon'no: Are you crying? **

**Naruto: No! I'm sweating through my eyes!**

**Sukiru: You know, you really can't do that.**

**Tsuyo: Then what's running down your face?**

**Sukiru: Sweat. From my eyes.**

**Kage no hon'no: …**

**Kage: …**

**Tsuyo: …**

**Kage no hon'no: Okay then, Happy Holidays to everybody! Oh! I have a question to ask of you readers. Do you think any of you can draw Kage for me? My artistic ability is worse than a monkey that is drunk, blind, and handless. PM me if you can please! Alright, Anko! Take us out.**

**Anko: Okay! Be sure to Read and Review people! Or no more sexiness for you! Ja ne!**


	11. Chapter 10: Better way to get in

***Fades in to reveal the room is empty, random items scattered on the floor. After some time, Kage walks into the room. He looks around the room, and then faces the readers.***

**Kage: Welcome back to Uzumaki's Shadow! For those wondering where everybody else is, well, Kage no hon'no is asleep right now, Sukiru is occupied at the moment, Tsuyo is occupied as well, and you can probably guess what Naruto and Anko are doing. Since I'm still technically a prude in the story, I only got to drink sake, which wasn't really that bad, but its gets rather annoying when Sukiru makes fun of me the entire time. Anyway, I guess I should answer the reviews that we've gotten so far.**

**Lednack: No, Anko is not one of Kage no hon'no's OCs. This Anko has had a fundamentally different life than the Anko than Kishimoto wrote, so she will sound different.**

**melvintheminion: Glad you like the story. Kage no hon'no will be trying to keep the story original. Keep on reading.**

**onepiecefannumber1: I understand that you want Kage no hon'no to update, but he is only human and often has trouble trying to write a good chapter. He is trying to keep his updates consistent, but it doesn't always work out that way.**

**Guest: I'm glad that you like me, Kage no hon'no put in quite a bit of effort to create me. Naruto's lifespan will be longer, but how long is a secret. As I mentioned earlier, Kage no hon'no is trying to updates consistent, but he isn't perfect.**

**A. : I would like to thank you for all of the presents. The oils I like to use for my oil baths are difficult to get, so I thank you for that. Anko and Naruto did put those toys to use… and broke a couple of them as well. Sukiru was quite grateful for the Icha Icha book, and the girls that are with him. Tsuyo was rather irritated that you forgot him, but then Tia Harribel came by… let's just leave it at that. Kage no hon'no was rather grateful for your thanks, its reviews like these that help him keep writing.**

**demoninside2: Of course! I would be glad to tell you! It's a type of psychological torture. It involves a series of tortures on someone and have them affiliate those tortures with something that they usually see in their daily life, in this case a rubber ducky, and their mind becomes convinced that that object is causing all of their pain. So once I let them go, whenever they see that object, they usually react negatively. It's not a very effective torture, usually used for comedic purposes and the effects wear off after several months.**

**sabery: Yes, Naruto will be getting four girls, the poll is for the remaining three. I am not really Naruto's father, I adopted him.**

**DoomMarine54: Wow, what a pitiful flame, I can't heat my oil baths with this! Oh, if you're going to call me a Mary-Sue, use the proper gender use. Since I am a guy, you should have called me a Gary-Stu.**

**Kage: Well, that's all of the reviews! I guess it's time to do the disclaimer. Disclaimer: Kage no hon'no does not own Naruto, if he did, I would be in it.**

**Word Guide**

"Hello" normal talking

"_Hello" normal thinking_

"**Hello" Demon/Summon talking**

"_**Hello" Demon/Summon thinking**_

"**Hello" Jutsu/Move**

**Chapter 10: Better way to get in  
**

**Outside Kage's house the next day…**

"This is where Naruto lives?" Tenten asked, "I though it would have been-"

"Darker?" Neji asked. Tenten nodded slowly, looking around.

The area they were standing in was a large yard covered in luscious green grass and trees, a stone wall surrounding the entire area, and a cobblestone path leading up to the doorstep. The house was built in a traditional Japanese style, the base of the house elevated a couple inches above the ground, four large beams were at the corners of the house, smaller ones placed along the porch, a wooden frame between the beams. The house had two floors; a curved roof was at the top of the first floor, jutting out, while the second floor had a simple slanted roof. The house had an interesting color scheme, but bottom floor was a magnificent white while the second floor was a dark grey. Tenten walked up the steps leading to the door and knocked on the wall next to it. Muffled shouts came from inside the house. Several seconds later, the door slid open.

"Alright, I'm getting it!" Sukiru shouted into the house, "Don't expect this to keep happening!" He turned around and saw the three genin, "What do you want?"

"Um, is this where Naruto lives?" Tenten asked, "We're his teammates."

"Yeah Naruto lives here, but he'll be a while. He's taking his sweet time finishing his oil bath, lazy bastard." Sukiru let out a chuckle, "However, I know a great way to pass the time. So tell me, do you have a favorite position?"

Tenten stared at Sukiru, "What?"

"You know, favorite sexual position. Do you like being in control, being controlled, or a mixture of both?"

"I don't have a favorite position!" Tenten shouted, her face red.

"Oh, so you don't have a preference? That always makes things interesting. Any fantasies that you've wanted to play out?"

"She's only sixteen you pervert!" Naruto shouted.

"So what?" Sukiru shouted back, "She's a shinobi, so it's completely legal!"

"You're not going to touch her! I'm invoking the Teammate Clause on you!"

"The Teammate Clause isn't valid here! You aren't in a relationship with her, neither are you interested in pursuing one with her!" A faint splashing sound came from inside the house, followed by the sound of running and the door opened completely to reveal Naruto with a towel wrapped around his waist.

"I don't care if it's valid or not! You're not going to corrupt her!"

"I corrupt who I want to corrupt boy!"

"Well, you can't corrupt her! I don't need to have a female version of you on my team!"

"You don't have to worry about me corrupting her now."

"Oh? Tell me why."

Sukiru held Naruto's towel out, "You lost your towel."

Naruto looked down to see that his towel was indeed gone, revealing his naked body for all to see, causing Tenten's face had turned a bright red. Naruto growled and snatched his towel from Sukiru and wrapped it around him, "I'm going to get dressed, show the around but don't try anything funny."

"Me? I would never do such a thing." Naruto just glared at him and walked back into the house. Sukiru turned towards the three genin, "Alright then! Follow me please! Here at the Kyoki home, we strive to make comfort a priority. Right now you can see that we are in the main hallway, which goes right down the middle of the house, it is twenty-five feet wide, as to allow multiple people to move through at once."

"Twenty-five feet?" Lee asked.

"Alright so more like twenty-four and eleven inches, but close enough. As of right now, we have one master bedroom, four bedrooms, and one guest room, all with their own bathrooms. We're planning on expanding, but we still have a couple details to work out. We actually don't have a dining room, its part of the kitchen, as we don't have time to move to a different room to eat. There is one living room, complete with a TV and several couches. There is also a dojo for light training. There is also a bathhouse, but only Kage and Naruto use it for oil baths. Best of all, there are seals placed all over the house, as to prevent it from falling apart, but I like the silencing seals the best."

"What's upstairs?" Neji asked.

Sukiru turned to face them and gave a dark look"That," he said, "Is the second floor of the house, under no circumstances are you to enter All three of them gulped slightly. "Just kidding!" Sukiru laughed, "But seriously, don't head up there without permission. Ah here we are!" He slid open the door to the living room, "Please sit down, Naruto should be here shortly. Now might I know your names?"

"It's customary to give one's name before asking others theirs." Neji replied.

"Now, now" Sukiru chided, "there's no need to get so defensive, I just want to know your names. But if you insist, my name is Sukiru, now yours?"

"My name is Neji Hyuuga."

"I am Rock Lee!"

"T-Tenten."

Sukiru chuckled, "My, my Tenten, are we having naughty thoughts about Naruto?"

"It's your fault for doing that!"

"So you are having naughty thoughts. You might want to be careful though, Naruto's girlfriend won't take too kindly to that. But enough of that, since we have introductions out of the way, any questions?"

"So you're the one that taught Naruto that advanced **Henge?**" Neji asked.

"That's not the only thing I taught him!" Sukiru replied, "But I'm glad he gave me credit for that. After all, you can't infiltrate any place with out it!"

"What else did you teach him?"

"Ah, ah, ah. I can't be telling you everything, no fun in that. Next question!"

"Can you tell us how strong Naruto is?" Tenten asked.

"My, you seem rather interested in Naruto aren't you?"

Tenten blushed, "He's going to be my teammate, I need to know of his abilities."

"Tch, you're no fun. I think he's somewhere around mid to high chunin level, not quite sure."

"How can you not know? You said you taught him."

"Oh nothing in the ways of combat or stuff like that. Naruto's mostly self-taught. Of course Kage's been teaching him how to control shadows and we've given him hints or advice, but most of what Naruto's learned, he learned by himself."

"But couldn't Kage have trained Naruto?" Lee asked.

"The answer is in your question. Kage couldn't. He's simply too powerful, a light work out for him most jonin would have trouble completing. Do you expect someone that strong to teach a six year old kid? It's just physically impossible, no matter what you do."

"That makes sense." Neji murmured.

"That or Kage was just plain lazy, I really can't remember." The statement earned a sweatdrop from all three genin."

"Can you tell us how strong Kage is?" Tenten asked, "I mean, we've heard rumors about what he can do-"

"It's never a good idea to listen to rumors, and I find it bad manners to talk about other people."

"But you've talked to us about Naruto." Neji pointed out.

"Because it was necessary, you need to know about him or your teamwork is gone. What I know about Kage is not your business. Now, who wants to play a game?"

"They don't have time for a game Sukiru." Naruto said.

"You finally done?" Sukiru asked, "Took your sweet time, didn't ya?"

"Not exactly my fault," Naruto replied, "Anko-chan wanted to say goodbye before going off on her mission. Now, I'll be taking my teammates."

"Fine with me," Sukiru said, "I've got a customer waiting for me anyway." He got up and left the room.

"Now that he's gone, follow me."

"So why did you bring us here?" Tenten asked.

"All in due time, follow me please." Naruto walked out of the room, the others following him, 'When I was younger, Tou-san told me about shopkeeper that he had met in his travels. While he was a shopkeeper to some, he was a great ally to others. You see, he had this massive training ground underneath his shop, though I'm sure that several building codes were broken. Anyway, I was absolutely thrilled with having a place like that. I wouldn't have to worry about people seeing my techniques or causing massive damage. I realized the task I had ahead of me, so I asked Tou-san for his help." He stopped at a wall, "Just a second." He placed his hand on the wall, and markings in the outline of the door glowed before sliding open, revealing a small room, intricate designs everywhere. "Come in please. Now something I didn't like was how they got in there. Just a simple ladder, I mean how dull it that? So I've come up with a better way." Naruto started going through hand seals, "You all will feel some disorientation, nausea, and may lose a limb."

"What?"

"Alright, **Sealing Method: Transportation!**" the designs in the rooms glowed white and the four disappeared

**?**

"I guess I deserve that." Naruto muttered, rubbing his jaw.

Tenten resealed her mace and glared at Naruto, "You want to warn us about something that dangerous next time?!"

"I did warn you."

"Well do it earlier next time!"

"Alright, I will. But now, I would like to introduce to you the Kyoki Training Grounds." The three genin took a look at their surroundings for the first time. They were in a massive city, old and ravaged by time. The buildings were made of stone and had moss growing on them and vines hanging off ledges. The area they were in was a large courtyard, completely bare of anything except for a large circle that they were standing on.

"This is a rather impressive place." Neji said.

"Yosh!" Lee shouted, "Your flames certainly burn bright if you could create something like this!"

"I didn't create all of it," Naruto said, "Tou-san helped out with all of the seals, and that's not all." He placed his hand on the ground and a table rose up from the ground, a city on top of it. "This is a map of the city we're in, now there are specific areas to train in, each with their own level of difficulty, each one a different color, as to prevent confusion."

"What's that area?" Lee asked, pointing at a black section of the city.

"That," Naruto replied, "Is a training area reserved for Tou-san, don't ever think of heading there, you wouldn't even last a second against the things in there."

"Have you been there?" Neji asked.

"Once," Naruto said, "I was lucky that Tou-san was there or I would be dead. But we don't have to worry about that, because we are going to be training over here," he pointed to a green section of the city, "this is the least difficult part of the training grounds, but don't be fooled by that, it's still difficult."

"Wait? Training?" Tenten asked.

"What? Did you think we were here for a tour? Absolutely not, besides it takes some time until we can get back anyway and this is the perfect time for you to learn about my abilities and work on our teamwork." Naruto grinned widely, "Let's begin, shall we?"

**Kage's House**

"I'm coming!" Sukiru shouted. "This is great, just great. Why am I always the one to answer the door? It keeps interrupting my 'me' time." He slid the door open; Tsuyo was standing on the porch, about to knock again. "Tsuyo? You're back already? Why on earth didn't you just come in?"

"Because it's fun to make you open it." He replied.

Sukiru just grumbled and headed back inside, "Come on in. So, did you get what you were looking for?"

"Yes actually."

Sukiru whirled around to look at Tsuyo, "How on earth did you find it already?"

"Somebody had already found it, and were willing to give it to me."

"You didn't kill them did you? We already have enough trouble as is."

"No I didn't. What kind of trouble?"

"Some birdies have been telling me that the council's acting up again, they've heard about Naruto's bloodline and are trying to use him as leverage."

"They've been trying to use Naruto as leverage against us for years," Tsuyo said, "Nothing they've tried so far has worked."

"As that may be, we need to be watchful of what they're doing, can't be getting caught in a trap, especially since Kage's deadline is coming up."

"Wait, ho did you know about that? It though he kept that secret from you."

Sukiru chuckled, "Oh Tsuyo, you forget that I'm the spymaster here, nothing stays secret from me long. Now show me, I want to see it for myself." Tsuyo pulled out a blood-red scroll and handed it to Sukiru. Sukiru took the scroll and opened it. A wide grin grew on his face, "Yes, Kage will be pleased with this." He closed the scroll and handed it back to Tsuyo, "Put somewhere safe, we're not taking any risks with this, not this time." Tsuyo nodded and headed upstairs.

"Sukiru." A woman's voice called out, "Please come back, I feel so lonely in here."

Blood dripped slowly out of Sukiru's nose, "Don't worry my darling," he called out, "I'll be there soon." He looked out at something, "Now, I'm sorry to tell you all, but the chapter is over now. There's nothing left to read. Now fade to black or whatever it is that chapters do." He turned around and headed towards his room, everything slowly fading to black.

**Kage: I hoped you all liked the chapter! I wrote it myself. I apologize if it's a little short, but filler chapters are not my specialty. I was getting tired of Kage no hon'no not updating, so I decided to do it for him.**

**Kage no hon'no: *walks in sleepily* Huh? What's going on here?**

**Kage: *nervously* Oh, nothing! Just talking to myself! Just go back to sleep.**

**Kage no hon'no: Mkay. *walks back out***

**Kage: *sighs* well, that was close! Oh, don't forget to vote on Kage no hon'no's poll on his profile If you want a better idea of what my house looks like, there is a link to a photo of Kage no hon'no's profile. Read and Review or I'll have Shin-chan come after your soul! Ja ne!**


	12. Chapter 11: Inconceivable!

**Kage no hon'no: Well, welcome back readers. Now apparently someone decided to post the last chapter without my permission, so I had to remind him of his place. You won't be doing that again will you Kage?**

**Kage: No Author-sama.**

**Kage no hon'no: Good. Now on with the reviews!**

**cybercorpsesnake: Well, I need an intresting chapter for an interesting story.**

**jtcr: Well, I'm glad to have answered your question. Yes Anko was in the Academy. She graduated the year Naruto was supposed to, but he failed on purpose for his own reasons. That conversation was quite intresting. As for the hallway, it's so wide becasue Kage and everybody else have a habit of carrying thier weapons with them where they go, so the hallway it to accomadate for that. If I'm thinking correctly it's about one hundred and thirty two feet long, for the entrances for rooms and the room for the teleport for the training ground.**

**i love naruto fanfics: Next one's up now. And finding out who exactly Kage is, well, that's for me to know and for you to evantually find out.**

**UraharafanXDXDXD: Glad you like it. I did try to make this story as good as I can.**

**sabery: Your wait is over.**

**kage88: Well, here's the next update.**

**Kage no hon'no: Well, without further ado, disclaimer Sukiru!**

**Sukiru: Disclaimer: Kage no hon'no does not own Naruto at all. It would definitely be more badass.**

**Word Guide**

"Hello" Normal talking

"_Hello" Normal thinking_

"**Hello" Demon/Summon talking**

"_**Hello" Demon/Summon thinking**_

"**Hello" Jutsu/Moves**

* * *

**Chapter 11: Inconceivable!**

Tazuna stepped off the boat onto the hard planks of the dock. The mists in Wave were always thick, but today they seemed to be unnaturally dense, limiting Tazuna's vision to just a few feet in front of him.

"Good luck Tazuna!" The ferryman called out from the boat. Tazuna looked back and waved at him before heading into the forest. The mist wasn't the only thing that wasn't unusual. The forest was completely devoid of any sounds, save for Tazuna's footsteps. The trees loomed over him ominously, the branches seeming to reach out and try to grab at him. He walked on the path for what seemed like hours, and he felt a rush of relief when he saw the clearing up ahead. He increased his pace slightly, eager to get back home and to his family. He managed to get halfway across the clearing when he suddenly slowed to a stop. His hands reached towards his hands, a line of red appearing on his neck. He fell to his knees, the impact causing his head to fall off and roll away from his body. The rest of the body fell to the ground and stayed motionless.

Zabuza appeared next to Tazuna's body, "Haku, seal the head." A teenager appeared next to Zabuza. He had long black hair, pale skin, dark-brown eyes, and was quite slender. He wore a green haori with white trimmings and light brown sandals. Haku nodded slight and took out a scroll and quickly sealed Tazuna's head into it.

"What shall we do with the body?" Haku asked.

"Burn it." Zabuza answered, "We have no need for it." Haku nodded again and did a quick **Katon** jutsu, turning Tazuna's body to ash. "Let's go get our money." The two vanished in a swirl of leaves, scattering the small pile of ashes. The clearing looked normal again, the short scene that just happened seemingly nonexistent.

**Gato's Mansion some time later…**

"What are you doing here?" Gato demanded.

Haku glared at Gato and opened his mouth to say something, but Zabuza placed a hand on his shoulder, silencing him. "We've finished the job." He answered gruffly. "And I want my money."

"You killed the bridge builder?" Gato asked, "Show me." Zabuza took out the scroll that held Tazuna's head and unsealed it, holding Tazuna's head by its hair before resealing it. A satisfied look came upon Gato's face. He nodded to one of his body guards, who handed Zabuza a suitcase. "Here's the money I promised you." Zabuza opened the case to see if all the money was there. Satisfied, he closed the case and left the scroll on the desk. He and Haku disappeared in a swirl of leaves. "Prepare to leave," Gato ordered, "We have a little surprise for the citizens of Wave."

**With Zabuza…**

"This job should give us enough funds for the rebellion Zabuza-sama." Haku said. He looked over at Zabuza, who looked to be deep in thought. "Zabuza-sama?"

"This seemed too easy." He murmured.

"What do you mean Zabuza-sama?"

"The Demon Brothers told us that they had been stopped by a single ninja." He looked at Haku, "So where is that ninja?"

Haku shrugged, "Does it exactly matter? We managed to get the job done, and without any trouble."

"I know," Zabuza said, "But it's going to bother me. What happened to Tazuna's escort?"

**Elsewhere…**

'You are completely insane!" Tazuna spluttered.

"Insane is such a degrading term though," Kage said, "I would like to say that I have a rather vivid imagination."

"I don't care what you like!" Tazuna shouted. "You take us off the main road onto an abandoned path which you believe to be a shortcut, which ended up being a dead end in the forest, so we had to head all they way back, then you force me to hide in a bramble patch for several hours because you thought you saw something. We ended up being late for the ferryman, but you decided to drag me through almost a mile of freezing water because you didn't want to wait!"

"Don't be so overdramatic." Kage said, "It was a rose bush."

Tazuna flung his arms into the air, "You're not even denying it! If that's not insane, I don't know what is!"

"If you thought that was insane," Kage muttered, "Then your definition of insane is really abstract." The two entered the clearing.

"Ugh. What's that smell? Smells like something's burning."

"I don't smell anything." Kage replied.

"Are you sure? Because I'm sure I smell something."

"The cold water probably addled what's left of your alcohol damaged brain. Let's go."

"But-"

"Let's go!" Tazuna looked around the clearing one more time, and then shrugged and followed after Kage.

**Two hours later…**

"Tsunami!" Tazuna call as he opened the door to his house, "I'm home!" A woman wearing a pink shirt with red trimming and brown pants walked into the room. She had long black hair, black eyes, slightly tanned skin, and a sharp chin. She saw Tazuna and smiled, "Dad! It's great to see you!" Tazuna yelped in pain as a wooden ladle smacked the side of his head. "That's for leaving without telling me!" She noticed Kage behind Tazuna, "Who is this man with you?"

"Oh, he's-"

"I'm just an escort." Kage interrupted.

"Where are you from?"

"Nowhere really. I guess you can call me a wandering ninja."

"Well then Ninja-san, would you join us for dinner?"

"I would be glad to Tsunami-san."

"Tsunami is just fine."

"Alright then Tsunami-san. I just need to talk to Tazuna for a second." Tsunami nodded and headed out of the room. Kage turned to Tazuna.

"What was that for?" Tazuna asked, "Why did you interrupt me-"

"Don't tell your family where I'm from." Kage said.

"Why?"

"Because if you do, I'll kill you myself."

Tazuna paled, "You won't do that! You're supposed to protect me!"

"But once that bridge is done, my contract with you is over, and I know many ways to make you and your family's death look like an accident. So, tell your family where I come from, you dig their graves. Understand?" Tazuna nodded shakily, "Alright then! Let's eat!" Both of them headed into the dining room, where Tsunami was setting up the table. A kid was already sitting down at the table. He wore a pair of green overalls and a yellow shirt. His hair was black and spiked all over the place. He had dark eyes and wore a blue and white striped hat. "Who's the kid?"

"That's Inari," Tsunami answered, "He's my son."

"Hello Inari-san," Kage said, "I'm the ninja that your grandfather hired to protect him."

"I don't see why he bothered," Inari said, "Now you're going to die too."

"Inari!" Tsunami scolded.

"Nice kid you got here." Kage said dryly.

"Sorry, he's just a little moody right now, please forgive him."

"I understand. Now, I'm hungry, and Tazuna probably is too. Let's eat!" Everybody else sat down at the table and started eating.

"So dad, where exactly did you find Ninja-san?"

Tazuna stopped eating for a second. He glanced at Kage, who was still eating, but he had his eyes on Tazuna. "Oh, I found him on the road, told him I was needing an escort, and he offered to do it for me, he's quite the generous man."

"That I am." Kage muttered. "So, anyone want to hear about some of my travels?"

"Oh please, do tell!"

"Well this was back during the Third Shinobi War; I had been traveling along, minding my own business, when I had accidentally stumbled into an Iwa patrol! They were as surprised as me, but they recovered quickly and I found myself captured."

"That sounds terrible."

"Actually it wasn't as bad as it sounds. I was treated rather nicely, since I wasn't from Konoha, but they were still wary of me since I was still a ninja. Their leader didn't know what to do with me, so I was taken to his commander, but he didn't know what to do, so I was taken to his commander, but that one didn't know what to do with me either! This kept happening until I was brought to the Tsuchikage himself!"

"Really?"

"Yep. You should have seen how angry he was, like a red prune! He chewed out the commanders for wasting his time with such a simple problem and let me go. Of course, all of my stuff was taken at the time, so I got to spend a night at his house. It's a beautiful place, with large spacious rooms, all you can eat, waitresses, all the luxuries one could imagine. Once I got my stuff back, I was set free on my merry way again."

"Sounds like it was quite an adventure."

"Sure was, and I've got loads more like them. There was this one time-" He stopped as he sneezed suddenly, "Sorry, must be something in the air."

"Will you be okay?"

"Yeah I'll be fine. Now, where was I?" Dinner went on for another half hour, until Kage suddenly stood up, "Alright, that's enough for now, I have some work to do."

"What kind of work?" Tazuna asked.

"The kind of work that you don't need to know about." Kage replied. He walked out of the room and started heading for the door. He poked his head back in, "Oh, and I would strongly advise against going outside for a while." With that he headed out of the house. Tazuna and his family didn't see Kage for the rest of the day, but they heard him quite often. Sounds of construction were constant throughout the day, and the occasional yelp of pain, followed by a stream of muttered curses. By the time everybody had gone to bed, the construction had all but stopped. The next morning, Tazuna opened the door to see a cobblestone pathway leading into the woods. Suddenly Kage appeared in front of him, hanging upside down. "Hello!"

Tazuna gave a startled cry before clutching his chest, "Don't do that to me! My heart can't take it!"

"Sorry about that. Aren't you going to say good morning?"

"Uh, good morning?"

"What kind of 'good morning' do you mean by that?"

"What?"

"Come on! It's not that difficult to understand. Are you saying good morning because you feel good, that you wish me a good morning, that you believe it's a good morning, or it's just simply a good morning?"

"Um, all of the above I guess."

"Tch. Close enough. Anyway, we need to get you to work. Let's go!"

"Wait! What were you doing out here?"

"Complicated, secret ninja stuff that you will never possibly understand. Just make sure you stay on the path please."

**At the Bridge half an hour later…**

"Wow, this is a pretty impressive bridge." Kage said, "Why didn't I see it before?"

"Because you were too busy swimming." Tazuna muttered. He looked around at the people working on the bridge, "I don't remember seeing this many people before."

The workers on the bridge started to notice the two newcomers on the bridge, "Tazuna? Is that you?" one of them asked.

"Of course it's me!" Tazuna exclaimed, "Who else would it be?"

All of the workers seemed to sigh collectively, "So you aren't dead." Another said.

"Why on earth would you think I'm dead?"

The workers gave Tazuna a confused look, "Don't you know what happened yesterday?"

"No, I just got back yesterday, I haven't heard anything."

Some of the workers suppressed a couple of giggles, "Well," one of the workers said, "Gato had come into town yesterday and had his thugs round everybody up into the town square. There he pulled out your head from a bag. He told us how foolish we were trying to defy him and this is what happened to those that did. Suddenly, the head exploded into smoke, causing Gato to drop it. When the smoke cleared, the head had turned into a mannequin's head with a face sticking its tongue out drawn on it. A small note was attached to it that read "Better luck next time sucker!" Gato's face had turned completely red and some of us had started laughing. The head then exploded into a mess of honey, covering Gato and his guards. Feathers then started falling out of nowhere, and Gato and his men were quickly covered with them. Then something exploded and a smelly liquid covered Gato. Suddenly," the worker struggled to keep a straight face, "All of the dogs in the nearby area started going crazy. They started going after Gato. He started to run, but he tripped over something and landed on his hands and knees, and then," more men started laughing and the worker's efforts became more visible,"the dogs caught up with Gato and started humping him!" everyone burst into laughter, "You should have been there! The man we used to fear covered in feathers being raped by dogs, squealing like a little girl! It took his men over fifteen minutes to get to him because the dogs kept getting in the way!"

"But did he even think I was dead?" Tazuna asked, "And how did he get my head?"

"I don't know," one of the workers replied, "But I would love to shake the hand the person that managed to humiliate Gato like that. Since that happened, people are more willing to stand up to him. And since you aren't dead, even more people are going to help work on the bridge. We'll be done within the week!"

"Well this is a stroke of luck for you," Kage said, "Seems like you'll be able to finish your bridge."

"Was that what you were working on yesterday?" Tazuna asked.

"No, it just a little protection for your family while we're here. Never know if someone might take them hostage. Besides, I was working on it all day yesterday; I would never have had time to do such a simple prank. Someone else must have done it."

"Do you have any idea who?" Tazuna asked.

Kage shrugged, "Could be anybody, another rouge ninja, or someone with a little talent in sealing and stealth. Either way, they're not a threat to you so I don't care. Now you have work to do and I have guarding to do." He made a shooing motion at Tazuna, who proceeded to head over to the nearest group of workers and started giving them orders.

**Gato's mansion**

"What do you mean the villagers are fighting back?!" Gato shouted. He was sitting at his desk, an ice pack underneath him to help sooth the pain he was feeling.

The thug standing at the other side of the desk flinched, "Exactly what I said Gato-sama. After your… incident in the village, the villagers are starting to fight against our men. Ten have already been killed, and others have been wounded. Gato-sama, about a fourth of the men have already deserted, and the moral for the rest are pretty low."

"Damnit!" Gato cursed, slamming his fist on the desk. He winced as pain flared in his butt, "Have we been able to find Zabuza?"

"No, he and his companion have disappeared. I doubt we'll be able to find them."

Another man burst into the room. "Tazuna's back!" he gasped.

"Where is he?" Gato demanded.

"At the bridge, but there's someone else with him. A man, dressed in black and I don't think he's a regular person."

"How so?"

"I overheard some of the workers say that Tazuna told them that he had hired a ninja."

"This is disastrous!" Gato shouted, "Now since the villagers know that Tazuna isn't dead, they'll become even more violent and there's a ninja protecting him as well, so I can't kill him. And there isn't any rouge ninja that's wiling to work for me!"

"Actually Gato-sama, there may someone." The thug said.

"Who?"

"I've heard that's there is a mercenary group made of S-ranked ninjas. They'll do any job, and for a cheap price."

"Who are they?"

"They call themselves the Akatsuki."

Gato stayed silent for sometime, then said, "Send for them."

**Tazuna's House three days later…**

"Welcome back Dad!" Tsunami said, "How was your day?"

"Great!' Tazuna replied, "Work on the bridge has never been better! With luck, we should be done within two weeks or less."

"Well with all the luck you've been getting, that shouldn't be too hard." Kage muttered. "Can we get something to eat? I'm starving here!"

"How on earth are you still hungry?" Tazuna asked, "You ate a meal for ten men during lunch break today!"

"Just don't try to make sense of it okay? I just wanna eat. What are we having for dinner tonight Tsunami-san?"

"It's just some sushi and rice, nothing really that special."

"Are you kidding me? I love sushi and rice! Stuff actually saved my life once!"

"Really?"

"Sure did. I was with a trading caravan in the Land of Iron. We were making our way to the next town when we were attacked by bandits."

Tsunami sat down at the table, "Bandits? That shouldn't have been much a problem for you Ninja-san."

"For most cases, that's true. But the bandits up in the Land of Iron are different. You see, citizens are required to be enlisted in the samurai army for at least two years. So most that become bandits have been trained in the ways as a samurai and thus are a bigger threat. Anyway, so the bandits attacked the caravan. We managed to fend off the first wave of attackers, but that's when the bandits revealed their real plan. They managed to herd us inside a cave, and then blew the entrance. They planned to kill us by starving us out, then looting what was left."

"How would they get to you if the entrance was blocked?"

'I'm getting there. There was about ten of us trapped in there. Thankfully we had a plentiful supply of water, and the only thing we had with us was what the caravan was carrying: sushi and rice. The first few weeks were fine, but then disaster struck. Our supply of water was poisoned, killing about six people. I managed to recover, but two became extremely weakened and one bedridden. Five days the water had been poisoned, the three with me succumbed to the poison, no matter what I tried. The bandits came back about ten days after that, there was a passage hidden in the back of the cave, blocked by a large stone. I managed to hide in a crevice in the rock, and once all of the bandits were in the cave, I snuck past them and closed the passage behind me. They didn't pack any food, and I had eaten what was left with the caravan. They couldn't open the passage from inside the cave, so they were trapped just like they trapped us. I found my way out and got to the nearest town within a couple days."

"That's a terrible thing!" Tsunami said.

"Well, not all of my adventures are all fun and games. The life of a ninja can sometimes be a hard one. But enough about that, let's eat!" Kage started eating his food with a frighting pace, cleaning his bowl within seconds. "Now that I'm done eating, how about another tale of my many adventures?"

"Uhh, we haven't finished yet Ninja-san." Tsunami said.

"Don't worry," Kage replied, "I won't stop you from eating. Just listen to the sweet sound of my voice. Now, this one happened a couple years before the Third Shinobi War. I was in Suna at the time, giving a trader an escort through the desert, traveling through the desert is a hardship for most and should not be done alone, now…"

Inari glared silently at Kage while he continued to tell his tale. The ninja simply infuriated him, how he seemed so carefree, and he brought everybody's spirits. And his stories! Stories that were probably made up in order to impress his grandfather and mom. He couldn't hold his rage in any longer. He slammed his hands down on the table, "Why are you doing this?!" he shouted.

"What?" Kage asked.

"Why are you even trying?!" Inari asked, "Don't you know that Gato's going to beat you, no matter what you do?"

"I'm kinda skeptical about Gato beating me," Kage replied, "I mean, the guy couldn't even defend himself against a couple of horny dogs. What on earth could he do to me?"

"He can kill you with his men!"

"You mean the thugs that can't even hit the broad side of a barn? The horny dogs would have a better chance than then. Besides, I'm just too awesome to be killed."

"Shut up! You're acting so carefree, with your made-up stories and false adventures! You don't have any idea what it's like to suffer!"

Silence crashed down upon the room. Kage sat still in his chair, a strange aura emanating from him. "Kid, let me tell you a story. I don't care if you believe it or not, but listen to this one. In a far off land, there ruled a king. Now this king was a cruel one, he was rather selfish and believed that power was the way to rule. He had hunted down all the doctors in the land, and threw them out or killed them. The only doctors left in the land were twenty doctors that were forced to live in his castle. This land was a cold and harsh one, so sickness was something that could strike at anytime. When someone fell ill, they had to beg to the king to let the doctors to cure them. Now there was one doctor that had survived the hunt. His skill wasn't the best, but he would try to cure the people that fell ill. Unfortunately, he had a sickness that was slowly killing him. When he wasn't risking his life to cure people, he was working on a project for the last thirty years, trying to recreate the miracle that had once cured him before. He wished to recreate this miracle in hopes to cure the land. One day when he was heading home from a village curing people, he came upon an injured creature. He took this creature in and nursed it back to health over a year. The two quickly became friends during that time, but once the creature's treatment was finished, the doctor forced it to leave, as his life was close to ending from the sickness that ravaged his body. He sought out the help of another doctor that had survived as well and prolonged his life long to try to complete his work. A week after he prolonged his life, the creature came back with a mushroom that it believed it could cure the doctor; not knowing it was a deadly poison. Grateful for the creature's kindness, the doctor ate the mushroom anyway. Then something happened, his work was successful. He managed to complete his project after so long. He quickly went to the doctor that helped prolong his life and shared the work that he had completed. He asked the doctor to take care of his friend and then left. He headed to the castle, as the twenty doctors that lived there had apparently fallen ill. But when he got there, it was revealed to be a trap by the king in order to kill him. Instead of letting despair overcoming him, he was grateful that no one was actually sick. He then took a potion that destroyed his body, preventing the king from killing him. The story doesn't end here though. Because of the doctor's efforts and determination not to give up even when he should have, that country ended up being freed from the king's rule and the creature became one of the greatest doctors that ever lived." Kage gave Inari a dark look, "You need to find out why I told you this story, but know this. It is far better to try and die than to do nothing and die." The tension in the room suddenly disappeared, "Now where was I? Oh yes, so I was trying to convince the trader to sell his wares at a lower price, or he'd never get a good profit for them…" Inari stayed silent for the rest of dinner, Kage's words echoing in his head. By the time dinner was over and he had fallen asleep, a single phrase repeated in his head, "It is far better to try and die than to do nothing and die."

* * *

**Kage no hon'no: Well, that was quite the interesting chapter!**

**Kage: I don't understand why you didn't have me fight with Zabuza.**

**Kage no hon'no: Do you realize what you just said? You would completely destroy him! Besides, this is something that I wanted to do. If you just convinced Zabuza that he had killed Tazuna, then no problem.**

**Sukiru: And the prank on Gato?**

**Kage no hon'no: For my own entertainment. It's probably obvious who did it.**

**Kage: No wonder why Naruto likes to prank so much. So why did you bring Akatsuki so early into the story?**

**Kage no hon'no: Well, to give you somewhat a challenge for one. And it also has a part in the rest of the plot in the story.**

**Tsuyo: So why didn't Kage just give Inari a beatdown?**

**Kage no hon'no: *sighs* I am surrounded by idiots. Because Kage would have killed Inari. And he's had experience with situations like Inari, so he wanted to teach him a lesson in a none physical way. Often more than not, most Naruto stories will have Naruto fly into a rage at Inari, so I wanted to try a different approach. But enough questions! Be sure to vote on the poll! This the last chance before I take it down next chapter! Sukiru, do the disclaimer!**

**Sukiru: Sure! Now ladies, be sure to Read and Review. Guys, I could care less what you do. Ja ne!**


	13. Chapter 12: Battle at the Bridge

**Kage no hon'no: Welcome back everyone! This is the chapter you've been waiting for! The epic battle between Kage and the Akatsuki!**

**Kage: Which of the Akatsuki am I fighting?**

**Kage no hon'no: We'll find out. Right after these reviews!**

**jtcr: You're right, I won't deny it. I used The Hobbit and One Piece and I'm proud of it. I've always wanted to use that Hobbit piece for a long time, and Dr. Hiriluk was a perfect story for Kage to tell. Here's a question for you, if Kage was working on something all day, then how did he manage to prank Gato? You get a cookie if you get it right!**

**kage88: Calm down, there'll be plenty of time for some Naruto and Anko action. Probably in about a chapter or two.**

**ScrimNinja: Meh?! That's all I get? A simple meh? Meh, I'll take it.**

**XLavaSTUDIOS: To answer your question, it's not that Anko doesn't know about the harem. She knows that Naruto might have a harem, but her thoughts on it are another thing. Guess I could do an omake about that.**

**FlyingTurtleduck: Alright. Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece either. That should cover it. It does somewhat fit doesn't it?**

**Youngkong313: Well thanks for the review! Pie, hmmm….**

**Kage no hon'no: Now the disclaimer will be done by a mystery guest. Come on in!**

**?: Thank you for letting me being here Author-sama.**

**Kage: You? But that's-**

**Kage no hon'no: Spoilers! Now can you please do the disclaimer?**

**?: It would be my pleasure. Disclaimer: Kage no hon'no does not own Naruto. It's quite obvious because Kage-kun isn't in it.**

**Kage: Kage-kun? Don't tell me-**

**Kage no hon'no: Spoilers again! Start the chapter.**

**Word Guide**

"Hello" normal talking

"_Hello" normal thinking_

"**Hello" Demon/Summon talking**

"_**Hello" Demon/Summon thinking**_

"**Hello" Jutsu/Move**

* * *

**Chapter 12: Battle at the Bridge!**

"Agh! I'm bored! When are we going to get there?"

"Look it should be just up head okay? Just calm down and be patient."

"I can't calm down! I haven't been able to do anything all week! I can't kill any villagers, any big animals have been eaten, and trees don't bleed!"

"Look, you can kill the kid if you're so blood-thirsty, but we need the bridge builder's daughter alive."

"You sure that the ninja isn't here?"

"Yes I'm sure, Tazuna would have already headed to the bridge, so the ninja is with him. We've got a perfect shot at this. If we do this right, Gato may give us a reward for doing this."

The two samurai came to the edge of Tazuna's property. A single cobblestone path ran through a grassy lawn up to the front door. A sign was placed next to the path reading, "Warning: Don't walk on the grass."

"Ha! What kind of warning is that?" one of them laughed. He cut down the sign as they walked past it. The two stepped onto the grass and nothing happened. "That was a stupid warning! Nothing even-" He was cut off as a pair of dark hands shot out from the ground and grabbed both of them. Both of them hacked frantically at the hands, but the attacks did nothing and they were pulled underground, leaving no trace of the thugs.

"Hello?" Tsunami opened the door, "Is anybody there?" seeing no one, she simply shrugged and headed back inside.

"Was there anybody there?" Tazuna asked. Tsunami shook her head.

"Look, I know that you're happy that you're almost done," Kage said irritably, "But can the celebrating wait?"

"Why the rush?" Tazuna asked, "You weren't this eager about me finishing yesterday."

"Because unlike you, I've got places I need to go to and my patience for people screwing around is in short supply right now. So GET YOUR ASS MOVING!" Tazuna leapt out of his chair and scrambled to grab his tools, "COME ON WE DON'T HAVE ALL DAY!" Tazuna ran into the kitchen, fully decked out in his building gear to see Kage calmly eating a bowl of rice, "Man, I know you're excited to finish the bridge, but you didn't have to run around like a chicken with it's head cut off."

"You're the one who made me run around you bastard!" Tazuna shouted.

Kage tilted his head to the side, "Hmm, can't say I recall doing that." His statement caused Tazuna to face fault "You should probably drink less, all that alcohol has damaged your brain." He brought out a large jug and took several long drafts before standing up. He walked over to where Tazuna had fallen and looked at him curiously, "Why on earth are you sleeping at a time like this?"

"You bastard." Tazuna growled, standing back up.

"What on earth have I done to earn your anger?" Kage asked. Tazuna simply screamed in frustration. A wooden ladle smacked the back of Kage's head, causing him to shout out in pain. "What was that for?"

"You stop torturing my dad!" Tsunami scolded.

"But it's so fun~." Kage whined. Tsunami raised the ladle again a bright flame in her eyes, causing Kage to cower in fear. "Mercy." He whimpered.

**Five minutes later…**

"I didn't realize that a simple piece of wood could hurt so much." Kage groaned, rubbing his head. _"Or that my scales didn't even stop it,"_ he thought, _"Maybe I should do some research in the abilities that a woman's righteous fury can grant, knowing how things work for me, it might reduce the amount of pain I get later on."_

"Strange," Tazuna said, "I don't hear any birds."

"They were probably eaten." Kage said.

"What do you mean?"

"I heard from a couple villagers yesterday that they had found a small pile of animal corpses about four to five days ago, completely stripped to the bone. They guessed that there was some kind of creature prowling about in the woods. As the days passed, more piles were found, each one with bigger animals than the last one. The last one that they found was a huge pile of human skeletons."

"This thing started going after humans?"

Kage nodded, "Fortunately it was no one from the village, just a couple patrols of Gato's men that had the bad luck to run into it. I don't think that it'll go after the villagers though; it doesn't seem to attack anything that has more than five in a group."

"Shouldn't you be a little more worried then?" Tazuna asked.

Kage shook his head, "Nah, I can handle mostly anything that comes after us. So, want to hear about the time that I traveled to a country that believed a log was sacred? It was about twenty to thirty years ago…"

**Unfinished Bridge thirty minutes later…**

"I was almost converted to their ways, except I didn't quite like the fact that there was a lot of initial brainwashing when you first join. So I politely turned down their offer, but I do pay some respect every now and then. Well now," Kage stopped suddenly at the start of the bridge, looking around.

"Something wrong?" Tazuna asked. He let out a small cry as he was enveloped in darkness, leaving no trace of him.

"Yes," Kage muttered, "Something is wrong." He took a deep breath, "I smell death." His eyes took on a red hue before he dashed into the mist. As he headed along the bridge, he could make out several prone shapes, all of them rapidly losing heat from their bodies. He let his vision shift back to normal as he knelt next to one of the bodies to examine it. Half of the man's torso was missing; looking like it had been torn off. An expression of horror and pain was etched onto the man's face. Kage let out a sigh, "You know, you two really suck at hiding. A genin could have heard you coming." A small breeze blew across the bridge, clearing the mist to reveal two men standing behind Kage, both holding a kunai at his throat. Both of them were wearing a black cloak with red clouds and straw hats.

"I don't think this one is a normal civilian." One of them said.

Kage rolled his eyes, "You don't say? You're friend here is quite the idiot, is he not?"

The kunai pressed harder against his throat. "Who are you?" the other asked in a monotone voice.

Kage simply sighed, "You know, I miss the good old days where ninja would kill first and ask questions later. So disappointing, I expected better, but I guess I set the bar a little high," he paused for a second, "Damn it all, I'm doing it to. Oh well." Kage suddenly exploded, taking out the two men as well. As the dust from the explosion settled, the corpse that Kage had been next to sat up. "Ow," Kage groaned, "Note to self: don't have a clone explode within two feet, it hurts like hell." He slowly stood up, "Alright, I know that the explosion didn't kill you!" A pair of kunai was his reply, which he deflected with ease. The two men appeared on the opposite side of the bridge. They had removed their hats, revealing their faces. The one on the left had a blue face with a distinctive shark like appearance. He had small, white, round eyes with gill-like facial markings underneath each. His hair was a dark blue, shaped similar to a shark's fin. The other man face was somewhat gentle, rounding slightly and coming to a point at his chin, and had long, pronounced lines running under his eyes. His black hair was parted at the center, letting the bangs run down the side of his face. His eyes were a red with three tomoe circling slowly around his pupil, an intense look in them. Both were wearing a headband with a line thought it, indicating they were missing nin.

The blue faced man chuckled, "An exploding **Bushin**, quite a nasty jutsu. Isn't that right Itachi?"

"You're an idiot Kisame." Itachi replied.

Kage sweatdropped, "You know, you just revealed both of your names. One of you could have at least stayed quiet. So what are two S-ranked ninjas like yourself doing here?"

"We were hired to do a mission." Itachi replied.

"Oh, so you tell me your name, but not what you're doing here? You sure have your priorities messed up."

"What do you mean?" Itachi asked.

Kage threw his arms up in the air, "Come on, it's one of the basic codes of being purely awesome! You're supposed to show up out of nowhere, nobody having any idea who you are, and you state the reason why you are there in the first place, possible put on some sunglasses! Like so." Kage vanished and reappeared behind the two ninja, standing on the railing on the bridge. "Hello," Kage said, placing on a random pair of sunglasses, "I'm here to protect your bridge builder." The sunglasses vanished, "See? That's how it's supposed to happen."

"That was kinda cool." Kisame muttered.

Itachi frowned, "Protect the bridge builder? What do you mean by that?"

"Exactly what I mean," Kage replied, "I was hired to protect the builder. That isn't a problem is it?"

"It is actually," Itachi said, "we were hired to kill the bridge builder."

Kage blinked, "Wow, I pissed off that Gato guy that much? I mean, I only set up events so that he got raped by a pack of horny dogs, but to send two S-ranked ninja after lil' ol' me? That's just an overreaction there."

"Wait, you were the one who did that?" Kisame asked.

Kage nodded, "Yeah, not one of my best works but it served its purpose."

"Kisame," Itachi said, "You realize that this man is our enemy."

"Awwww." Kage whined, "Does this mean we have to fight now? But I was having so much fuuun!" As if on cue, Kage exploded yet again, sending Kisame and Itachi back several feet.

"I'm really starting to hate those clones." Kisame growled.

"Me too." The Akatsuki members looked to see Kage standing at the edge of the recently made crater. "My clones never like to follow my orders. Little pricks, always so trigger happy."

"Who are you?" Itachi asked.

"Ah, ah, ah," Kage said, wagging his finger, "Didn't my clone tell you? You never tell someone your name on a mission. Especially on an infiltration mission, or a seduction mission. What kinda name should I use for those? Wade? Nah, too mercenaryish. Bob? Nope, too generic. I know! Roanora Zoro!" Kage exclaimed, pointing up in the air. "Nah, risk those stupid copyright laws. Oh! How about..." He turned to the two ninja, "Got any ideas?"

"What on earth are you doing?" Kisame demanded.

"Asking for advice for what fake name I should use." Kage replied. "Oh I know! Robert! That's a perfect name!"

"Aren't you going to fight?"

"Meh, I'm not really in a fighting mood. But if you want it so badly-" Kage vanished. Both of the ninja's instincts instantly screamed at them to move. They barely managed to move before Kage appeared between them, destroying the stone where they had just stood. "I'd be happy to oblige.

Kisame let a wicked grin on his face, "Now this is more like it!" He grabbed the hilt of the weapon on his back and swung it at Kage, who simply raised an arm to block it. The edge of the weapon slid across Kage's arm until it reached his elbow, where it slid off and smashed into the ground.

Kage examined his arm and frowned, "I liked that sleeve." Suddenly, Kisame's weapon started writhing and made several chattering noises.

"Oh? It seems like Samehada likes the taste of your chakra." There were some more chattering, "Really likes it."

"Samehada?" Kage asked, "The blade that eats chakra faster than a fat boy at an all you can eat buffet? Damn, this fight got a little more difficult."

"You haven't forgotten me," a voice said from behind, "have you? **Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu**!" A massive fireball engulfed Kage as Kisame nimbly leapt out of the way.

"Heh, he's burned to a crisp now." Kisame chuckled.

"Nah, not really." Kage replied. The flames slowly died down, revealing Kage without his cloak, wearing white ANBU armor. "You know, that was my favorite cloak. I have to take this seriously now." He brought his hands up and slowly started to form seals, "Such a shame, I'm going to rob the readers of a long, drawn out fight. You know, I haven't had sushi in such a long time." He appeared in front of Kisame, hand outstretched. "I've always wondered what shark sushi would taste like." Panicking, Kisame swung Samehada at Kage's hand, the blade absorbing the charka for the unknown jutsu and tearing off several of Kage's fingers, breaking his concentration. Kage blinked, "Well, that ain't good." He snatched Samehada from Kisame's grasp and tossed it away from the bridge. Several seconds passed and nothing happened. "Huh," Kage muttered, "it didn't explode? Umm, sorry?"

"You bastard!" Kisame shouted, "I'm going to-" Kage stabbed Kisame in the face with his hand, going completely through Kisame's skull.

"You're not going to do anything" Kage said, pulling his hand out with a sickly squelch, "Because you're dead. Hmm, I'm getting kinda hungry." He reached down and tore off one of Kisame's arms and started chewing on it. "I hope I don't get chewed out for this, just murdered a potentially good plot device. Oh well, when one door closes, another one opens." He stopped eating for a second, "Huh, where did that Itachi guy go?" He sniffed at the air, "Tch, he ran away. Guess he didn't want to fight anymore.

**Elsewhere…**

Itachi ran silently through the forest. Things had not gone as planned. It was supposed to be simple, kill the bridge builder and the ninja protecting him. Now, Kisame was dead and it was only because of that ninja decided to eat Kisame's corpse did Itachi manage to escape. Itachi let out a long sigh; it was not going to be fun explaining this.

**Back at the Bridge…**

Kage wiped his bloody mouth with a piece of his cloak that had managed to survive being burned. "That was a nice meal, better than anything I've had all week." He looked around at the bridge, which had several cracks in it from the recent fight and sighed, "Man do I have some work to do. Oh, but first-" He turned to the unfinished end of the bridge and walked into the mist. Several seconds later, sounds of screaming and tearing of flesh came out of the mist and lasted for several minutes before they died down. Kage came back out of the mist, covered in blood and chewing absent-minded on a leg. "Alright, let's get to work." He started cleaning up the debris on the bridge. Slowly, the mist on the bridge cleared, revealing on the end of the unfinished side a pile of human bones.

**Some time later…**

Tazuna woke up with a start. He looked around to find himself at the entrance of the bridge. He placed his hands on the ground to stand up when he felt something crinkle in his right hand. He looked at his hand to see a folded up note taped to it. He took it off his hand and unfolded it to read it.

_Tazuna,_

_I apologize for leaving on such short notice, but I do have a family of my own to look after. Anyway, don't worry about payment for the mission; I already 'acquired' the necessary payment from Gato's accounts. That reminds me, I killed Gato. Don't ask why, I just felt like it. Also, I decided to finish the bridge for you and made some modifications to it as well. Now, before you panic, I didn't do anything too crazy, just increased tensile strength, weight limit, durability, gave it a nice paint job, and a couple other things. Another thing, don't worry about me coming after you or your family; I just didn't want some things about me made public knowledge yet._

_May you and Wave prosper once again,_

_Ninja-san_

It took Tazuna several times to read the note before he understood what had happened. Wave was free. When the villagers found Tazuna at the bridge, he was on his knees, tears of joy running down his cheeks.

**With Kage…**

Kage stood at the other end of the bridge, admiring his handiwork. "Alright! Home we go!" He turned around and started walking in the general direction of Konoha only to trip over something and plant face first in the ground. Grumbling, he turned around to see what he tripped over. On the ground before him was a woman. Most of her body was covered in wrappings, blue skin showing where it wasn't covered. Her purple hair traveled down most of her back, looking like it was a mass of scales more than actual hair. "Huh, she looks oddly similar to Samehada." Kage muttered. He mulled it over for several seconds before an idea popped into his head. "Ah! She must be on of those cosplayers! But how on earth did she get out here? What should I do?" He adopted a thinking pose, stroking an imaginary beard. "Well, I could just leave her. But then wild animals or men could get to her. But do I really want to take her with me?" He sat there for a couple minutes, weighing each decision. "Damn my caring nature!" He stood up and turned the lady over. "Huh, mid to high C." He smacked his forehead, "No, no, no! Bad Kage!" Pushing his perverted thoughts aside, he moved her hair out of the way to examine her face. It had a round jaw line and a petite nose, her thin lips pressed together slightly. Kage started to lift her off the ground when she stirred slightly before going still. He continued to lift her off the ground, carrying her bridal style, placing her head close to his neck. "Alright, off we go!" He started heading to Konoha yet again. Several minutes later, he felt the woman shift in his arms. He paid no attention to it, he did however, did pay attention to the sharp pain in his neck and the sudden, if small drain on his chakra. He dropped the woman to the ground, which resulted in a large chunk of his neck being torn off. Kage cursed and clutched at his neck. He stared at the woman who was weakly crawling towards him, "Okay, that's taking cosplay a bit too far!"

**Omake: Naruto and Anko**

Naruto let out a sigh as he collapsed onto his bed.

"Long day?" He looked to see Anko crouching on the windowsill.

"Anko, do I really need a door if you keep using the window?"

"It'd save us the hassle of locking it." Anko replied. Naruto let out a weary chuckle and looked up at the ceiling. Anko walked over to the bed and lay down next to Naruto and started stroking his hair, "What's on your mind?"

"A lot is on my mind."

"Tell me then."

"I'm kinda worried about how my team is going to react once they find out about my jinchuriki status."

Anko scoffed, "This again? Just go ahead and tell them, it went perfectly fine with me."

"You tried to kill me!"

"Only because you took forever to tell me! You kept wimping out God knows how many times!"

"Well could you blame me?! I was an insecure eleven year old kid! I was terrified of losing my only friend!"

"Well I didn't leave you, so there!" The two glared at each other for several seconds before lying back down.

"There is something else. Sukiru talked with me today. He said since my bloodline has shown up, the council will probably try to put me in the CRA like Tou-san. He warned me of some of the tactics that they might try against me."

"Really? Sukiru helped you with something like that?"

"Yeah surprised me too. When I asked why he told me that he may be a pervert, but he cared about people being together for love."

"Wow, that was surprisingly considerate from someone like him."

"Yeah, so what do you think of this?"

Anko embraced Naruto and pulled him closer, "I don't like it. I don't want to share you with three other women because you have a bloodline. I want to be the only one to hold you like this at night. I want to be the only one to know you like I do. I want all these things and more, but no matter how much I want it, I know it's not going to happen, and that makes me angry."

Naruto moved his hand to wipe a tear from Anko's face, "Hey, listen to me. Even if I end up with these other women, there is one thing that they will never be." He leaned in and gave her a kiss, "They will never be you, or love me the way you do." Anko gave him a small smile and they inched a little closer to each other before falling asleep.

* * *

**Kage no hon'no: Well, I hoped you all liked the chapter! I apologize if the fighting was a little dull; I need to work on that. I can't believe that this chapter took so long to finish!**

**Kage: Well, it didn't help that you kept on reading that one story by Third Fang.**

**Kage no hon'no: Hey, I like reading other people's fics to help improve my writing! I also get some good ideas, like the Log.**

**Sukiru: You have to admit that Third Fang is an amazing writer. **

**Kage no hon'no: Yep, his OCs are really good as well. I wouldn't want to meet them. *eyes widen* O God, the horrors… *curls up into a ball***

**Kage: We probably pale in comparison to them. They are some well thought out characters.**

**Kage no hon'no: Alright enough of this! I have a couple announcements. The new poll that I have up will be going down in twenty four hours once this chapter is up. Be sure to vote! Also, I still need someone to draw Kage. One more thing, I have started on the beginning chapters for a One Piece fic and a Bleach fic, so be sure to be on the lookout for them! Tsuyo, take us out.**

**Tsuyo: Alright. Be sure to Read and Review. Otherwise you might be a next meal. Ja ne!**


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